The Lost Child
by Turbanator
Summary: A casual conversation becomes serious, an idea is created from nothing, and a new force comes into play. Kyon's headaches can only get worse from here on in... /\ Canon Insert /\
1. Family Bonds

**The Lost Child**

**Family Bonds**

**Thursday  
SOS Brigade Clubroom**

Man, Koizumi must either be monumentally stupid, his esper powers and intelligence only applying to where it matters, or he thinks that by pandering to my ego he can prevent me from feeling useless.

Another game I had utterly demolished him at, and this time I only read the rules at that moment...

His pathetic shrug behind that plastered smile on his face frustrated me as he packed the game away, before holding out another one. I waved my hand in a negative fashion, not wishing to play another one immediately after.

I opened the laptop generously donated to us via the computer research society and just opened a web browser to check out the news.

Ever since we solved the problem with the dogs being scared of that haunted path, we've been doing the same old boring things day by day, going to the train station to find weird things, only to come back and for me to get shouted at by Haruhi. Lately, we're just sitting in the clubroom and thankfully having a quiet time lately.

The clink of a cup alerted me to the arrival of a fresh brew of tea.

"Thank you, Asahina-san." I smiled at the maid.

"Please tell me what you think of it, Kyon-kun. It's a new brand I'm trying."

I'm sure anything you make would taste good not matter what leaf it came from, even if it was nettles or poison ivy.

Her blush was cute as she tiptoed around me to give another give cup to Koizumi. There's no need for that really, he can just get up and grab it himself.

Nagato was reading a book which had a large spaceship on the cover, and very small writing from what I could gather thank to my straining vision. She turned a page and didn't move for a few more minutes after that.

Haruhi was typing like mad on the main computer; I dreaded to think what she was doing.

Having posted on a popular bulletin board asking about strange experiences with aliens and whatnot led to hundreds of naturally fake posts. Her excitement took us days to calm down. Koizumi reported a lot of Closed Space that week from her disappointment and anger at being lied to.

From what I heard from Nagato, that website had all the data wiped from it in a catastrophic combination of lightning striking the server building, followed by an inferno from a stray cigarette, and water sprinklers going off in the computer room, when halon should have been installed there.

Given that their backups were foolishly stored in the same location, it would take weeks to bring back that site.

She finished her typing with a flourish, her hand in mid-air. I stared at her for a moment before she noticed and became all huffy with me.

"What?" She grew redder and lowered her hand fast, "Staring at the Chief for too long will result in punishment!"

Huh? What kind of ridiculous rule is that?

"It's one that has been stated in the unsaid rulebook, Kyon..." She narrowed her eyes, "So why are you still looking at me?"

I shrugged, guessing that maybe she was in one of her moods again, "Perhaps because when someone is talking to me, I can't help but feel it would be impolite to not look at that person..."

Haruhi glared at me more and folded her arms, leaning back, "Oh, so now you're being cheeky, this calls for a big penalty."

I sighed, this was turning out to be a bad day. I could see Koizumi's smile straining as he sweatdropped, Asahina-san was whimpering, and Nagato was in mid page-flip.

This wasn't worth risking the planet again...

"I'm sorry, Haruhi..." I told the truth for once since she always saw through every lie told to her, though she didn't necessarily know what the truth was, "I'm just a bit stressed recently, what with the exams and my sister getting ill."

Her mood transformed immediately to one of mild interest, her antagonism evaporating, "Your sister's ill, what with?"

She couldn't tell if this was the real truth, but as it was I had no qualms in sharing it with her, "She has a stomach infection, nothing too serious, but she has to stay a home for a few days having medicine and eating liquid meals. "

I wasn't really worried about her safety, but she did complain about the pain and cried a few times. Not being completely heartless to her, it did tug at my emotions for a short time as I sat next to her bed reading a book to her.

"I see... Okay, you're forgiven, Kyon. I'm sure she'll be up and about in no time."

Haruhi scratched her cheek while looking up at the ceiling, and she lowered her hand, her mood suddenly reaching a new low point, though it was through sadness, and not anger this time.

"Haruhi..." I had to comment, it was quite bizarre to see her so sullen, "What's wrong?"

"Well, I don't have any siblings, so I can't really understand the feeling of having someone related to me as a brother or sister, nor even the fact that they could be sick."

I nodded, it was perfectly understandable. The same could be said for me, as I have no concept of what it would be like to be brought up as an only child.

"It's not hard really, it's just somebody who has the same genes as you, given the same parents, and so you feel a bond with that person. If he or she isn't well, then you also are affected whether you like it or not."

Koizumi rattled off that speech with his smile.

Haruhi then looked at him, "Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

He shook his head, "Sadly, no, I was an only child."

As Haruhi looked at Asahina-san, she thought about it a little too long, "No, I don't have any either..." She seemed a little sad at this point.

As our leader directed the same question to Nagato, she turned a page, saying a few words whilst not changing her appearance, "I do not have any family through genetic bonds."

Well, that goes without saying... Nagato's an alien, and a data-based lifeform at that, so she probably has no genes to speak of.

"Yuki... You're an orphan?"

This sudden question halted our thoughts. Whilst four of us knew the truth, Nagato also did not take into account the fact that Haruhi would've gone slightly further in questioning something she said. Koizumi opened his eyes for a moment as Asahina-san hovered near the kettle.

Understanding the need for damage control, given that it was too late to backtrack on what she said, but also having to reassure Haruhi lest more data explosions take place, Nagato looked up from her book and stared at her.

"Yes, my parents died in a car accident two years ago. I was currently residing at my aunt's house at the time, so I was unhurt. She took care of me until she too passed away a month before I commenced at this school. Fortunately, my family were very successful and thus held a great deal of savings stored away, which were all passed to me, being the last of their kin. The place where I stay now is a flat they rented, although I took it upon myself to remove the majority of the unnecessary furniture into storage. I am at present living off those funds to pay for my education."

Despite no physical or emotional change in the method of speaking, Nagato's monotone whisper remaining the same throughout, Haruhi seemed moved in some form. To be honest, I also felt sad for Nagato, despite knowing about her non-human origins, it was a very convincing story and surprising given that she came up with it in a second. I almost forgot about what I knew about her past, and wanted to protect her somehow.

I had to pinch myself to remember that Nagato was Nagato, and that she would be fine. I would later have to congratulate her though for stirring up such feelings within me from that tragic story.

"That's..." Haruhi didn't show tears very often, and this wasn't one of those times either, but she was definitely choked up, "I... had no idea, Yuki."

Nagato kept looking at Haruhi, "The details of my life are inconsequential and insignificant." She paused, as if to change the subject and end the line of conversation, "I've adapted well to the lack of family, and I'm functioning normally on my own. There is no reason to worry for my well-being."

She looked down at her book and began reading again, signalling that it was the last time she would talk about this.

Haruhi nodded mutely and went back to her computer screen, but I could tell by the wrinkles on her forehead over her monitor that she was still deep in thought.

Closing her book fifteen minutes later, we prepared to leave, shutting down computers, unplugging kettles and putting away board games.

As we were leaving the building, I sidled up to Nagato as Haruhi laughed away with teasing Asahina-san.

"That was a great story, Nagato. Even I felt sorry for you."

Nagato replied immediately, "It was a simple application of appealing to Suzumiya Haruhi's emotions by way of generating empathy through sadness. In order to stem further excitation, I was required to halt any further line of investigation by her."

"But, even so, how did you come up with such a complete story?"

Nagato looked at me, "I collated information from various media sources, and found daytime soaps to be dramatic enough to emulate in this instance."

I see, no wonder it was such a tear jerker and mildly melodramatic... I hope Nagato wasn't corrupted by such mind rotting influences.

"I merely used them as research for this purpose, not as a base to further my communications with humans. The procedures I have in place are already sufficient."

Thank goodness, well done to you Nagato.

She just nodded silently and kept walking.

**Friday  
Homeroom**

I was getting worried, Haruhi still had a pensive look on her face whilst staring out of the window.

She didn't seem to respond, and there was a hint of something hidden beneath her mild frown.

"Kyon... "

Oops, I must have been staring at her again.

"Have you ever wondered what it would be like to not have a sister?"

Huh, are we still on that topic after yesterday? I assumed we were given that she was glaring at my not responding in the way she wanted.

"Not really, nor do I want to. She's my sister, and while she may get on my nerves every once in a while, I wouldn't want her to be suddenly gone either."

"That's not what I asked, Kyon..." She grinned at me wryly.

"Well, I thought I made it clear last night, I don't know, maybe my parents would give me more attention, maybe I wouldn't have any problems related to her. I haven't the faintest idea, Haruhi, why do you ask?"

She nodded to herself, satisfied by my answer I guess, "No reason... But just one more thing, do you think you're luckier to have a sister than people without one?"

I could count the six bullets in the chamber, that's how loaded this question was, seeing as the interviewer had no siblings to speak of.

"I honestly can't say, Haruhi. Some people with a brother or sister hold feelings of jealously because one is favoured over the other. Some only children might be loved more than two different siblings combined." I sighed, having already gotten bored over the subject so early in the morning, "From my biased viewpoint, in the sense that I have a sister, I think I'm lucky to have her, though I'm sure other people might not be so lucky to have my sister as a sister."

Haruhi made an impressed sound, "Looks like you thought of this a lot, Kyon!"

Not really, I just rambled on about my normal thoughts, and gave the only opinion I could.

I wondered if this was the start of the following chain of events, by just giving a new direction in which Haruhi's muse could travel.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Yes, another new story for the Haruhi section, and it will deal with something yet to be covered in the novels.

It will also feature a canon insertion, but more on that later...

- J


	2. The Fourth

**The Lost Child**

**The Fourth**

**Saturday  
Outside the train station**

"Okay! Let's go find some weird and unusual events!"

I panicked slightly, this was the first time Haruhi and I were paired up together in a long while, the remainder were in the other group. I had already lost more money from my wallet having been late (or at least, everyone else was early, thus making me late by default), and I was fearful of what else she would have me do.

We split up and Haruhi immediately marched off to the back alleys, keeping away from the shopping district, and anywhere remotely fun. To be honest, even though the sun was high in the sky, the dark streets from the tall buildings overshadowing the narrow paths made the trip a bit creepy.

Disappointed that there was nothing stranger than a cat rummaging about in a dustbin, she moved out into the more populated areas, and began going into shops.

For a moment, I hoped she was actually going to act like a normal girl and check out clothes. My hopes were dashed and subsequently run over by a lorry once she started questioning the shop owner if he saw any odd things recently. The man sighed and told her no; I got the impression that this interview happened often.

I had the odd sensation that I was being tailed, though Haruhi in her mission to find impossible things was aloof to the feeling.

I kept an eye out for a green minivan, but was happy to see that nothing remotely resembling that colour was around us. I thought that perhaps a taxi with a familiar driver was coming closer, but again no. I searched around me, in case I thought that the others had chosen to follow us, but I couldn't see anyone.

"Well done, Kyon! It's good to see you really focussing on finding things!" Her grin surprised me in that it was sincere and not at all tainted with repercussions or possible pain, "Keep this up and you could be promoted to a higher rank!"

Great, so instead of being the lowest in the SOS Brigade, I'll become someone who is worthy enough to bring the tea leaves to Asahina-san.

Thankfully, I think she didn't hear me as she strode, more confident than ever thanks to my supposed help.

**Thirty minutes later  
Back at the train station**

As expected, nothing was discovered, and a very disgruntled Haruhi stormed off to the meeting point.

"That was pathetic, Kyon, you could have at least found an alien landing site, or crop circles, but that?!"

What do you mean 'at least an alien landing site'? I thought that pointing out the one odd thing I saw, a person wearing a trench coat with black clothes underneath, sunglasses and had a distinct Asian appearance to him, was something to take note of. And how exactly are we going to get crop circles in the middle of the city?

"Rubbish! You can forget that promotion now!"

Ah, what a shame, it's not as if my life would get any easier otherwise.

Haruhi glared at me once more when we reached the others, before speaking to everyone, "Right, since today has been a failure, I'm going home. We'll meet at school to decide Kyon's punishment!"

What?! Punishment?!

Haruhi had already charged off to the train station and had got her ticket home. I didn't want to take the same ride with her, so I chose to sit in the square, picking a convenient bench.

That was until I noticed that the others hadn't left their original positions, and were all looking at me.

"What is it?" I asked, before assuming they wanted to know what happened, "I thought I saw someone interesting, he wore odd clothes, but Haruhi wasn't happy..." Their looks didn't change, and I started to get curious, "What?"

Koizumi moved towards me, and I got nervous at his invasion of my personal space, "There is a situation."

I stood up quickly, knowing what it could be, "Closed Space?"

He shook his head, "Unfortunately, were it something as simple as that I would not have had the need to inform you." He looked to where Haruhi left and kept speaking, "It is fortuitous that Suzumiya-san departed early. She did not even think to speak to us about how our own examination of the surrounding area went."

"You don't mean..." I felt my throat constrict and sweat beginning to build up at the base of my neck, "You found something?"

"Not just something..." Koizumi looked to the others, "We know what it is..." He turned to the shortest person of the group.

I walked over to the others and saw that Asahina-san was worrying. Had Haruhi questioned them, I'm sure she would have blurted something out just from the fear.

"Nagato, what did you find?"

She looked up at me and spoke softly, "It is still open. I will take you there."

Puzzling over her words, we walked for about ten minutes, and I realised that we were approaching the area of the shops that Haruhi and I had passed earlier when she began to ask all the various owners disturbing questions.

There was one shop that had shut down a while ago from the looks of the faded 'Closing Down Sale' posters that were torn and peeling from the inside of the window. The windows weren't smashed, but there was some vandalism in the form of graffiti. The door was ajar, and it was entirely possible for people to live inside.

Nagato's lips began moving, and I felt a barrier in front of us go down, as we walked inside into what presumably was the main room where the products were sold.

"Forty two minutes ago, I detected an unusual data explosion emanating from this region where Suzumiya Haruhi had walked by. Due to the proximity to other humans, I attempted to ascertain what exactly this data burst consisted of and requested temporary access to my powers to erect a barrier to prevent exposure to those not affiliated with her. Immediately, we ventured to this location and discovered what was the cause of the massive input of unreadable data."

Entering into the back area where the staff worked, I was speechless.

Hovering in mid-air was something I had never seen on this world.

It was difficult to describe, since its shape changed consistently, but if I were to try I'd say it was like a plasma bolt charging up. In order words, a crackling yellow ball of energy, which had tendrils of something that looked like lightning spidering out. It made a faint ring around it, to make a deadly looking cobweb.

"What is it?" I asked.

Nagato stepped forward and spoke, "It has only been recently classified by the Data Integrated Thought Entity."

She reached out one hand, but still stayed far from the reaches of the yellow and orange thing.

"This is a Dimensional Sliding Portal."

My heartbeat slowed, and I stared up at the monstrosity.

The Slider had appeared.

But, where was he?

"Has anyone come through?" I asked, realising the risk.

"Further analysis presumes that a Slider had indeed arrived in this reality. However my data protocols appear unable to detect that person's movements."

"Wh-Where does this lead to?" I felt drawn by the portal, the webs seemingly enticing me in to it, but I held that urge back.

"I briefly linked up to the other end of the sliding portal, and found that it belonged to a land known as Xen. From what little I could gather from the people's minds and systems there, it appears to be an intermediary dimension, where any form of creature can go to live. In your terminology, it could be seen as the central hub of the bullet train network."

Ahh, I get it now. So you can wait there until a portal to a suitable land opens up for you. I suddenly realised something important.

"Wait, so you're telling me more people can through?"

Nagato nodded, "Yes, and though it would be unwise to test, the possibility remains that it could also be utilised as a two-way portal."

"Can you close it, Nagato?" I needed to know, just leaving it open would allow all sorts to get through.

"I can fold the space around it to force an automatic shut-down, however it is highly unlikely I would be able to open it again."

I looked at Asahina-san, and she shook her head, "I haven't received any news about this from the future, so I can't give you any advice. Sorry, Kyon-kun..."

Ahh, don't give me that pitiful look, it's not your fault...

"I'm of the same opinion as you. It is dangerous to leave this open in the middle of the city, and who knows what else might come through. People from this reality might also get curious and venture in one day."

I didn't ask you, Koizumi. Yes, I see your shrug, and I raise you a sigh.

"Okay, Nagato. Close the portal, it's too much of an opportunity for worse things to happen if we leave things like this."

She nodded once, "Understood."

She stared at the portal and muttered an incantation. Slowly, I saw it begin to distort at the edges, and soon half of the ring had collapsed inside. Seconds later all but the central ball had gone, which began to fizzle out and die, as if snuffed out by a brisk wind.

"Well, that was harmless..." I remarked.

Nagato looked around and blinked, "All traces of sliding portal eliminated. No other occurrences manifested in nearby area. Reapplying self-restriction..."

I was happy for once, but something Nagato said earlier bugged me.

"Nagato, did you say that you couldn't search for the Slider?"

She nodded, "I will presume the person was human, and escaped through the doorway, given the lack of other exits in this building. As there have been no reports of a non-humanoid figure walking about, it is safe to assume that the Dimensional Slider comes from a reality very much like ours, only different in some form for obvious reasons. Therefore, this will make tracking down the Dimensional Slider to be near impossible."

"So, we have to wait for that person to make the first move..." Koizumi said, holding his chin in thought.

"It is also possible that I will permanently be unable to determine the location of the Slider, even if that person is in front of us."

"Why's that?" I asked.

Koizumi answered for her, "Is it because you only understand concepts of data within this universe, and thus cannot apply the same principles to another reality, even if things are the same?"

Nagato nodded, "Correct. It will be as if that person is invisible to my senses at all times. It may even be likely that the Dimensional Slider could pass through my barrier without meeting any resistance. With further calculations and close analysis, I may be able to generate similar data responses and thus be able to detect the presence of the Dimensional Slider."

I noted one glaring contradiction in that sentence, and had to speak up about it.

"But, in order to get that analysis, you'll need to find the Slider first and scan him for all the necessary details, which we cannot do since we can't find the Slider..."

All were silent until Koizumi spoke up, "I believe this is what certain people would call a Catch-22 situation..."

Thanks for that irrelevant phrase, Koizumi...

"Allow me to elaborate. Catch-22 is a famous book about World War II, from the perspective of the United States. In it, there's a soldier who wishes to quit being a pilot by saying he's insane. It is also assumed that any pilot who chooses to fly in such horrendous conditions would automatically be classified as insane, but no one will question them about their sanity. A pilot who seeks a doctor's note about getting a transfer away by claiming insanity would immediately admit that he was sane, as an insane person would not know of his mental state. Hence the Catch-22; in order to get the first item, you require a second item, yet to obtain the second item, you need the first item. Therefore, it is an impossible logical sequence to obtain both."

That's... That's just abominable... Thanks for the mindless drabble about things no one cares about.

Asahina-san looked at all of us and tried to interject, "But, maybe this Slider isn't a bad person..."

I nodded at that, because she and the others in the SOS Brigade aren't bad.

However, there is also the other possibility that a Slider from the opposing side had arrived first.

Koizumi sighed, "It appears we are at a loss. We cannot move until we know what the Slider's plans are, nor can we locate the Slider before he initiates those plans." He looked straight at us, "I suggest we sit and wait this out. Searching now will only result in frayed nerves and increased stress. Suzumiya-san is already under surveillance from the Organisation, and I presume the other two parties, at all times, so if anything happens we will be the first to know."

Despite the silly smile on his face, he did have a point, and I didn't particularly feel like going on another search.

"Okay, we'll do that. We'll meet up at school again, if anything happens, call me."

All were agreed to my idea, and we headed back to the train station, prepared for the worst.

**Monday  
Homeroom**

Ouch.

It's almost like a psychic impulse... You have a nonsensical dream which has a convoluted plot, one that in the real world would never be accepted by even the stupidest of film producers, but it engrosses you all the same. Then, somewhere towards the end, as you reach the big finale, suddenly the bells of the end of the world are signalled. All the characters are telling you either to leave or to stay, but you always go finally.

Somehow, your body recognises the time which you get up at, and creates an entire dream based around your waking up to the sound of your annoying alarm, which had such a prominent role at the climax of your script. Cursing yourself for waking up, you usually forget the contents of what had just transpired, and yet, if you had the time for snoozing, you would reject that alarm call and go back to sleep, resuming the dream to get to the better ending.

That was why I yelled out loud in Okabe-sensei's class as we were preparing for the school day ahead of us.

Haruhi's mechanical pencil jabbed me particularly hard this time, and I jolted awake recalling a rather gruesome incident on December 18th the second time round. Having the accompanying piercing of my skin and embedding into my flesh at the same moment of the nightmare only heightened my incandescent fear.

Like the moment with the timing of the bells signalling the end of the world with my alarm, so did my near death experience at the knife of 'that' girl with Haruhi's pencil.

Apologising to Okabe-sensei, and making a weak bow to the rest of the class, I turned around sharply and glared at Haruhi.

She had on a particular grin, one that promised lots of trouble for me, but seeing as my body was racked with mortal terror, the effects of that nightmare not having worn off as yet, I wasn't yielding to her right now.

"Can't you just wake me the normal way?!" I hissed under my breath.

Her mildly surprised look of shock caved in to show her wrath, "The Chief must always punish those who neglect their duties!"

"And you thought to wake me because I was missing homeroom?!" I growled, only to close my eyes and let out a few deep breaths, "What do you want today, Haruhi?"

"Well, I need to think about your punishment for this Saturday, of course!" She grinned, and it was a tad more friendlier than before, though she still had that predatory look about her.

"Do whatever you want..." I waved her off and ignored her response, turning my head back to the front.

Several more pokes in my back got my attention back fast, and I snapped my head, only to see her frustrated and a little bit worried.

"Hey, Kyon, what's wrong with you?" She was worried, that was surprising to me, "You're not yourself today..."

You can talk...

"I have a lot of things on my mind at the moment..." It was no lie, but the truth need not be told now.

"Your sister again?" Haruhi asked carefully, almost sensitively one might say.

"Uhh, yeah. She's feeling better now, she can go to school now, but still needs to eat liquid foods."

"You know, I was watching something the other day, it was quite interesting." Haruhi piped up to smile a bit, "Imagine if you had a twin brother or sister that you never knew you had, only they were the complete opposite to you."

Yeah, that classic dramatic storyline, almost cringeworthy in most cases.

"The funny was, the twin came from a different world..."

I steeled myself, having heard those immortal words, I knew exactly why the Slider came...

"That person travelled the realities to kill his counterpart in each universe. Isn't that weird, Kyon? To have someone who looks like you, only to be very different in the way he thinks?"

I shudder to think. I began coming up with ideas.

My 'brother' would have to be less of a passive person and more active in his actions. I don't even want to think of what the others would have for their relative sibling.

Haruhi's alter ego would be beyond any capability of mine to comprehend terror.

"Yeah..." I needed to reply to her question, "It would be strange..."

At least my curiosity was sated, I knew why the Slider was here now.

To kill one of us.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Ooh, plot development! Slider incoming! Given that novel 9 is probably leading to the emergence of the slider (two plotlines? Sounds like a parallel reality to me), though we won't know until novel 10, thought I'd bring up this last request of Haruhi's to realise who it is.

Impressions are welcome.

- J


	3. Injected Personality

**The Lost Slider**

**Injected Personality**

**15:30**

After the final class Haruhi declared that she was going to go and torment – sorry, I mean find – Asahina-san before going into the clubroom, so I assumed she was on the upper floors.

As I picked up my bag, ready for another hour or two of residing with Haruhi's whims, I heard my two other friends chatting.

"Did you see her?" Taniguchi leered.

"Yeah, she really did look nicer..." Kunikida continued, before looking at me, "Hey, Kyon, have you seen her today?"

Who? If you just refer to the person as 'her', I'm not likely to figure out who out of the female population you are referring to. I'll assume you mean the one they always talk about when the conversation involves me.

"You mean Haruhi? She just left."

"No, no, no!" Taniguchi crossed his arms in a defiant gesture, "Not that crazy Suzumiya woman, I'm talking about the A- girl! I might increase her rank to AA+!"

As I chose to immediately forget your insane categorising of girls into alphabetised ranks, I need you to remind me.

"Nagato Yuki, of course!"

He showed me his book, with pictures from the official school roster, her passport photo staring back at me with the same vitality that the real one more or less resided in the clubroom held. I didn't want to know how he got them from the school secretary.

Then what he said just registered with me.

"Wait, what about Nagato?"

Taniguchi sighed happily, "I've never seen a face like that on her... She's usually so... boring, you know? But this one! That one emotion is one I've been dying to see on her face... She seems so alive..."

I paled...

The Slider was Nagato's sister...

My mind flashed back to the first battle I was in, and I suddenly thought of Nagato using the same knife, the same barriers, everything.

Except now they would be to kill her own sister...

I lunged at Taniguchi, not wanting to hear any more. I grabbed his shoulders, "Where did she go?!"

"Wha-? Hey Kyon, you're hurting me, man!" His bemused gaze did not pacify me.

"I saw her go towards your clubroom a minute ago..." Kunikida spoke up, quirking his eyes at my random outburst.

Barging past them, filing away Taniguchi's complaints for an apology later, I flew to the clubroom, and flung the door open.

There inside was a person I knew very well. That pose, that face, that book, that emotion she expressed when I came in.

I had met her before.

Shutting the door behind me, I went closer to her, yet both fearing for myself and for Nagato.

"What are you here for?" I asked, barely able to contain my anger.

Her eyes widened, "I... I wanted a book..."

I faltered. There was no change from what I remembered, and her reddening face made me grow in realisation.

No!

Our assumptions were all wrong.

She shouldn't exist, not any more...

"Y-You can't stay here, I need to get you out..." I grabbed her arm, only for her to gasp and weakly hold on to my school jacket, afraid by my sudden movements.

My heart felt like it was stabbed again, as those horribly nostalgic feelings of December floated back into my head.

The door opened and two people came in. Koizumi stared at me and our guest, and opened his eyes for a moment. The other person who entered, another Nagato, blinked once at me, and the person next to me. Thinking that privacy was of the highest importance, Koizumi shut the door behind him.

I sighed, because I was going to need their help.

"Koizumi, Nagato, I'd like you to meet Nagato Yuki, the human version of Nagato from that alternate world."

"But, why does that girl look like me?"

Yuki – this is the name I will now use for the parallel Nagato, to determine which one I'm referring to from now on to prevent migraines – asked this rhetorical question, not having let the truth of my statement sink in.

Nagato walked up to the shy version of herself, and blinked again. "She is invisible to my data protocols. I will now establish a temporary link to the Data Integrated Thought Entity to enable decryption of the Slider known as Nagato Yuki."

Muttering another spell, I saw her shoulders sag a tiny bit, and I think I knew why.

This was the person she had created herself two or so months ago. The corruption within her body, those emotions she had been building up inside of her which she took to be threatening, made her alter the world to the new reality where no special powers existed.

And thus this Yuki was created, a shy bookworm, the only member of the literature club.

Continuing on from this event, after the restoration of the world, Nagato was to be punished by her boss, and I vowed to use my trump card against it, lest Nagato be deleted or removed forcibly. Even though she chose to restrict her own abilities, I still worried for her safety, and her thanks for my support only strengthened our friendship.

Yuki was scared. Here she was facing someone who looked exactly like her, speaking in a way she never associated with herself and completely emotionless in how she conducted her business.

"Yuki..." I spoke her first name to draw her attention whilst Nagato scanned the girl, "Why are you here?"

"Why? I... I don't know..." She held her book nervously, and began to shiver.

I guided her to a chair and sat near her, to give her the illusion of space, as we were all crowding her.

"Yuki, you've come from another dimension... Like a reality where everything is the same, except some things are slightly different." I made sure she was listening to my voice, and I tried to sound calm for her benefit.

"But... I didn't know... I've only read about this..." She looked at Nagato and Koizumi, "I remember you from when you came into this room, with that loud girl... You were from that other school."

"Oh no..." I spoke out loud.

Yuki had all her new memories from before Nagato's Emergency Escape Program was initiated.

"You rejected my application..."

She shook again and stared at me like I was the worst person in the world. I felt like that too, since seeing an expression of horror and terror on a face that was looking at me from Yuki, or Nagato, chilled me.

"And y-you shot me..."

I closed my eyes and covered my face with both hands, elbows resting on the table.

This Yuki had absorbed all the knowledge of the alternate reality. Perhaps her last thought was how I killed her, I could never change that.

Sucking up my tears, not wanting to go back to that time for various reasons, I looked at her as honestly as I could.

"I'm sorry, Yuki... I had no choice... You weren't killed, you just went back to normal..." I looked at Nagato for a moment, and she noticed this movement.

She stood up suddenly, "You wanted me to become her?!" She squealed in despair, "That's not me, that's a doll!"

Yes, that's what I thought at first, but Nagato is just someone you have to get used to...

Koizumi held his arms wide and smiled at her, "Yuki-san, if you'll allow me. Please calm down, we mean you no harm." He gestured to the chair, "Sit and relax."

She looked at his face and mellowed slightly, I suppose she fell for his fake smile. She went back to the chair but stopped when she saw me, her hand frozen on the back of it.

Understanding the hidden message, I got up dejectedly and made my way to the window, closing my eyes whilst facing the outside, trying not to let her justified fear of myself affect me.

"What do you remember, Yuki-san?"

"I... I remember school, when one day he came in and scared me..." I'll presume she pointed or glanced at me, "I gave him an application form, and later he came with you, a senpai from a higher grade, and a loud girl. The old Literature Club computer made a sound and he looked at it, happy. He pressed a key, and then somehow I was at the school at night, alone..." She swallowed loudly and her fear could be heard, "Then, he comes at me with a gun..." She shook her head, not wanting to continue.

"That's okay, Yuki-san." Ever the diplomat, Koizumi knew when to stop pressuring people, "What about after the gunshot?"

"I fell... Out of a yellow ring..." She held the book tighter against her chest, "I was alone, in a strange land with weird shapes, smells and it felt like another world... The sky was just stars, and there were many islands, but no sea..."

I looked at Koizumi and nodded, this was probably that Xen area Nagato spoke of.

"I ran everywhere, but no one was there, nothing but those odd walls, they looked alive. I don't know how long I was there for, then another ring came out of nowhere..."

"And I presume you went into it?" Koizumi ended her sentence.

Yuki nodded, "I landed in a shop, and could hear people, so I went to them, and I was in the street. I thought I was back home, but then I saw him and that girl..."

So, that would explain the sense of someone watching me at some point...

"I ran... I ran home, but I didn't have my house keys, so I couldn't get home..."

Koizumi's smile faded, "Did you sleep rough?"

Yuki nodded, and I suddenly felt bad for her, "That was until I remembered that the school wasn't locked well at night, so I slept in the nurse's office. I stayed there on Sunday too, because I knew I wasn't in my home, my world..." She placed her hand over her heart, "Everything was the same, but I couldn't feel it like I used to inside, like my senses don't work properly..."

I see, just like how Nagato can't detect her using her data knowledge, Yuki instantly felt at odds with everything else around her in this reality.

Nagato stopped her chanting and looked at me, "Emergency Level: Red Alert. Suzumiya Haruhi and Asahina Mikuru are approaching rapidly."

Oh no...

"We-We've got to hide her, now!"

I was panicking, there was no way we could explain such a sudden appearance of a mirror-image of Nagato. I passed my eyes over the room and saw that metal closet, one which once held Asahina-san a month ago on two occasions. I opened it quickly and went to Yuki.

"You've got to get in there, Yuki, please!"

Her face became whiter and seeing my hands getting nearer to her, she let out a sharp 'Eek!' and closed her eyes, tears forming.

"YUKI~!" The power yell of Haruhi echoed throughout the school, and almost reverberated through the walls.

Three seconds later, the door burst inwards, a cracking kick denting the centre, as there stood Haruhi and a terrified Asahina-san.

"What's going... on...?" She started loudly then trailed off as she saw the set of twins. Asahina-san saw them and began pointing from one to the other growing more confused.

"Ahh..." I put a hand behind my head, trying to make the mood better, "We wanted it to be a surprise..." I thought of the only thing that would make a tiny bit of sense, "This is Nagato's twin sister, her name's Yuk... o..."

Brilliant, all I need is some acid to swim in, that's how doomed this ship was with that ridiculous notion.

"Her twin sister?" Haruhi's eyebrow arched up as she folded her arms, and peered closely at the new arrival, who shirked away, "I thought Yuki had no relatives!"

Nagato stepped forwards, "Correct, I was led to believe that I was an only child. However, Nagato Yuko has brought some documents that state she was adopted when just a month old. My parents it seems were unable to support two children, and regretfully chose to send her away." Nagato blinked once, "Despite all these years, her own family passed away, but left the note stating her real origins and my name. She came here to find me, and somehow located my presence immediately."

Haruhi nodded knowingly, "As I thought! Twins have a special bond between them, even if they are separated from each other for years they can still find each other no matter the circumstances." She looked at 'Yuko' and patted her shoulder, "Well, I'm sure we'll make her welcome to our school."

Those eyes, so similar to Nagato's, filled up with tears and she started crying, and ran out of the clubroom.

I started and began to follow her, only for a hand to yank on my tie, preventing my forward momentum, and also restricting the air flow to my lungs.

"Oi, Kyon! You scared her earlier! And why is she so sad?!"

"I... I don't know, Haruhi!" I was exasperated and didn't want to lose sight of her, "I think she's just very emotional right now." She wasn't letting go, so I put my hand on hers gently, "Please, let me find and talk to her."

Blushing and getting huffy at the hand-to-hand contact, "F-Fine! Do what you want!" I ran off, but heard her voice behind me, "But if you do anything to her, heads will roll, starting with yours!"

**Five seconds later**

I thought of the places she could go to and came up with precious few locations, even though this world was an exact replica of the one she was used to.

Given her state of mind, she wouldn't go home, since there was none for her. She could go to the nurses office, but that wouldn't be good to hide, same with her classroom.

Then I thought of the only place left for her, the only option remaining.

I ran upstairs, taking the steps two and three at a time my breaths becoming harder from the sudden exercise.

Palming open the remaining door, I ran out onto the roof and saw the corner of the edge of the building where sole figure was clambering up the chain link fence, her face a wreck.

"Yuki!"

Her scrambling for grip only became more frantic as she attacked it with greater fervour, I ran to her in seconds, and she hadn't even got up halfway. I pulled her arms and fingers away from the fence, and she fell into my arms, sobbing loudly.

Turning my back to the fence, I pulled her in as my knees fell limp, dragging me to a sitting position; like a father would do to a crying daughter, I hugged her.

She hit me with those tiny, delicate fists, not stopping her wracking, soul-destroying sobs.

"You... It's a-all your f-fault!" She barely tapped me with those fists now, and leant in to the warmth of my jacket.

"I'm sorry, Yuki... I'm so sorry..."

I kept repeating it over and over, rocking myself whilst holding the petite girl in my arms, crying myself from her anguish.

"Why... Why did you...?" I said after a few minutes.

"I... I can't go on living... My home is gone, the family I thought I had, my friends... All fake..."

I closed my eyes. Nagato created all those memories for this girl in order to live a happy life without any knowledge of the previous one. That was the plan.

But I ruined it for her, for wishing for the old one back.

This is the second time it's happened before, Haruhi wanted the old world gone, but I didn't. Then Nagato felt like it too.

Was this world so bad?

"Yuki... We'll find a way for you..."

Why was I saying that, I couldn't guarantee anything!

She was shaking still, I couldn't blame her, everything she knew had collapsed around her and as such, she didn't know who to trust or turn to...

Ah, of course...

I let her go, surprising her suddenly, and looked at her fully, "Yuki, I apologise for back then. I said a heartless thing to you by giving back the application form, but I had fully intended to meet the other you in my reality. I liked you, but you weren't the one I had met first and made friends with..." I looked to the side, over the playground, "When I found out who changed reality, and what I had to do, I was horrified, and the only way it could be done was via that method."

I chose not to mention the old choice of the long syringe prior to Nagato forging a gun for me; having her faint now would not be appropriate.

"Yuki, I had no choice, you remember what happened then, 'I' was stabbed, and another 'me' who came to correct that mistake shot the gun. I pulled the trigger, but I hated myself whilst doing so..."

I sighed and lowered my head, in a meek form of a bow, "I know it's a terrible crime... Though I didn't kill you with the bullet, I knew it would end your life in that form, restoring the world to what I knew, and bringing back my friends..."

I held out a hand to her, giving her a sardonic grin for my foolishness.

"As pathetic as it may sound now, I want to make it up to you. Do you want to be friends with me?"

She looked at the hand as if it was a tarantula, and shirked away. My face must've twitched from her reaction, and I began to pull away, thinking that it was too early for her to accept it.

"No... I..." She reached out with both hands and grasped them around my own, but didn't shake it properly, just held it lightly, "I don't know what to do now... I don't want to be alone, and that girl scares me..."

Who, Haruhi or Nagato?

"B-Both of them... But I think Haruhi-san is more scary... She makes me nervous..."

Yeah, don't worry, we all feel that way, sometimes it's too much of a burden to bear.

"Umm..." She shifted about, and moved away from me, "Thank you, Kyon-san." She looked away, "I wasn't afraid of you, but I thought when I first saw you come in to the room today, that you would try that again."

I shook my head, there was no way I'd shoot Yuki another time, "That won't happen, I promise you."

I got up, dusting my trousers from the build-up of dirt from being in the corner, and began walking to the exit, until I paused.

"Actually, Yuki... I looked at her, "You need to keep your real origin a secret from Haruhi. Like you said, she's a bit freaky at times, and we don't want her getting overexcited."

Images of a kiss in a dark world came to mind.

"For now, we'll be calling you Yuko in front of her and the rest of school. However in private, we'll call you Yuki."

She nodded at this, understanding that there couldn't be two people with the same name. Her eyes widened for a second.

"I'm a bit worried, where will I go now?" She fidgeted, another sign that this wasn't Nagato, "I mean, the nurse's office is warm and comfortable, but I need to change my clothes..."

"Ahh..."

Yes, that part needs to be thought about, but I had already come up with the answer, though I knew it wouldn't be the one she wanted to hear.

"The only idea that comes to mind is for you to stay at Nagato's home, the same place you stayed in your old reality." Her paling face was a give-away, "I know you don't like it, but it's the only way. I could take you, just as Asahina-san and Koizumi could, but it would be too suspicious to Haruhi, as you're Nagato's twin in her eyes."

"B-But..."

She shivered, and this time I think the cold winds were biting her. I moved closer and put one arm around her, steering her back into the school.

"Nagato will take care of you, it does take some time to get used to her, but she will be able to accommodate you."

"I... Okay..." She was saddened at the turn of events, "Can I call you, in case I -"

"Of course you can." I nodded eagerly as we reached the clubroom, "Nagato has my number, call me whenever you want."

Satisfied that I had sorted things out, and that Haruhi was being indoctrinated by Koizumi and Nagato, I opened the clubroom door to see them looking back at me.

"Well, I think I'll allow you all to go home for today. We need the sisters to get acquainted now, don't we?" Haruhi winked at Yuki and Nagato, one 'meeped' lightly, the other said nothing and nodded.

Jogging out, she waved to us and soon was long gone, leaving us with Yuki.

"Yuki-san..." Koizumi began, "Are you feeling better?"

"Y-Yes..." She looked up at him, and I felt a little rage bubbling to the surface at the way she looked at him, "Kyon calmed me down now..."

"Do you need any help?" Asahina-san came closer and saw that Yuki's hands were red from trying to climb up the fence, "Oh! You're bleeding, I'll get a plaster..."

Moving away to the first aid kit which we had in case Haruhi overexcited herself and knocked out one of us, or the guys next door, she returned with cotton wool, alcohol and a plaster. Administering each in turn, she cleaned the wound eliciting a small squeak from Yuki and stuck the plaster on the small cut.

"There, you should be fine now." Her smile was warm, and Yuki rubbed her hand gently, feeling the pain going away.

"Yuki will be staying at Nagato's home from now on, until we find out what to do for the future." I looked at the authentic girl, "I'm sorry Nagato, but it would be weird otherwise if Haruhi hears of Yuki not staying with you."

Nagato nodded, "Understood, I will acquire additional items of furniture to allow adequate living conditions for my counterpart."

Yuki winced at the monotonous tone, and I spoke again, "Nagato, would it be okay if you could call her Yuko in front of Haruhi and everyone else, but when it's just us, call her Yuki?"

Nagato blinked once and nodded again, "Indeed, that will be necessary." She looked to Yuki and nodded again, "Would you like me to show you home... Yuki?"

Yuki stood nervously clasping her hands together before agreeing silently. I glanced at Nagato and the others before speaking again.

"Okay, tonight I'll take them home, but tomorrow will be a normal day at school, we've got to keep Haruhi from asking too many questions of Yuki, we don't want her tripping over something unfortunate like details of the portal, or even her old self there."

All nodded once in agreement.

"Okay let's get going." I turned to Nagato, "Can you arrange for Yuki to be transferred into the same class as you, Nagato?"

"N-No..." Yuki jumped in quickly before looking at me, "I want to be in the same class as you... I think people would be talking to me a lot..."

I shrugged, guessing that she was correct, but felt that she still didn't trust her sister implicitly 'Okay, Nagato, you heard her, right?"

"Correct." She blinked once, "I have informed the necessary authorities of this transfer and tomorrow Nagato Yuko will be required to make a class introduction."

Well, that shouldn't be too hard, though I can imagine that Taniguchi might press her for more information. Maybe even Haruhi would understand and help to protect her from the others.

"Good, it's all sorted out for now..." The sun had set by now, and we were all getting tired, apart from maybe Nagato, "Let's go home for now and look forward to tomorrow."

As Yuki bit her lip, I thought things couldn't get any worse...

**---**

**Author's Notes**

And here we are, the legendary smiling Yuki from the alternate reality.

Obviously you'll understand this is from Novel 4, and what the plot of Season 2 of the anime (whenever it gets released) will centre around.

Naturally, there will be more surprises coming for the group, and the next chapter will be from a very interesting viewpoint indeed.

- J


	4. The Transfer Student

**The Lost Slider**

**The Transfer Student**

**That evening**

It was a tiring day.

Not only did Yuki come from the parallel world, but Haruhi now knew about her existence, meaning she is now her twin officially.

"Well, it's okay, things will work out somehow."

The phone rang in the distant, and I ignored it, knowing someone else would pick it up. A few seconds later my sister scampered in.

"Kyon-kun!" I glanced at her as she cheekily popped her head into my room, "There's a girl for you."

"Really?" There were only two possibilities it could be.

Taking the phone from her, she winked at me, wishing me luck, though I'm not sure what for.

"Hello?"

"Is this Kyon?"

"Hi Yuki..." My guess was right, "How are you?"

"I'm okay, but it's a bit strange being here."

I can imagine.

"Did Nagato get some furniture in for you?"

"Yes, when we got home, there were already things waiting for us outside, a new futon, cupboard and even food."

Trust Nagato to get everything there, she probably made the order online the second I mentioned it to her.

"So, is everything okay then?"

"Yes, it's just, she scares me..."

"Who, Nagato?"

This was news to me.

"Yes, I don't know what she's thinking, and she keeps talking to herself."

She probably communicating with her boss, or doing some incantations.

"It's nothing, she does that quite often. She is very reliable though, and you've got nothing to be afraid of when you're with her."

"I suppose..." Yuki sounded a little better, "I just wanted to talk to someone a bit more..."

She hesitated, but I knew what she meant.

"Human, right?"

"..."

I was right.

"Well, tomorrow is a big day, but I'll be there to protect you, and this time, for real. I'm not going to leave you like last time in the other world. Besides, it's only school."

Her light giggle was endearing, and made my heart melt a bit, "Okay, Kyon, I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Bye..."

Ending the call, I laid down on my bed, wondering what she must have gone through so far to get to this world, and moreover, why she was here.

**That moment**

**Nagato's Apartment**

Begin log no. 5952.10, date January 5th 20:23:56, Location 2375.5, 3492.5

Diagnostics Running...

Physical status: Normal

Mental status: Within normal parameters

Security status: IceBarrier Active, increased restrictions to Upper Level Data Manipulation.

Entity Link: Maximum bandwidth of 1000 googolbits/s, no latency.

Diagnostics Complete

Commence Personal Log...

Secondary Subject: Human Nagato Yuki (see newly created datapedia article 'Yuki')

Location: Residing with Human Interface Terminal NY

Species: Human (outward scans indicate as such, see notes)

Designation: Slider (see log 5948.24 for Incursion Date).

Alternate Names: Nagato Yuko, only to be used in presence of Primary Subject Suzumiya Haruhi to corroborate cover story.

Notes: Entered our reality (Current Designation Earth 42, Universe 666, according to data gathered from Dimensional Plain Xen), via Intermediary Dimension (see datapedia article 'Xen'), alone and confused. Located Primary Subject and Unknown Factor (see datapedia article 'Kyon') together whilst on walk (see datapedia article 'Weekly Investigations'). Resided at school for first night, before coming into contact with Club (see datapedia article 'SOS Brigade'). See log 5950.60 for full transcripts. Subject former resident of Artificially Created Reality (Current Designation Earth Beta, Universe Omega, now considered Null and Void) due to corruption of NY databanks. See history regarding IceBarrier Activation for details. Subject now residing with NY. Configuring scans to detect Sliders and/or physical status of Sliders, as current data does not apply.

Commence Monitoring Progress...

Subject has terminated call with Unknown Factor. Call duration 00:03:51. Transcript of call in Call log 341.3. Summary, brief communication with Unknown Factor's Sister, then with Unknown Factor. No major details or concerns. Subject worried about NY.

Subject has requested liquid refreshment from NY. Expression contains a slight increase in skin moistening, shivering, stress lines on forehead and quickness of breath noted.

NY has responded with an indicator to location of fridge.

Subject held up hands, and did not appear to want to move towards there.

Accessing Emotion Circuits indicate Subject's response to be standard procedure for worry, fear, unease, loneliness and rudeness to attempt on own initiative.

Alternate Option Selected: NY moved to kitchen to remove bottle of 100% pure spring water (see datapedia article 'Evian') from fridge.

NY passed bottle to Subject. Acceptance was brief, no physical contact made. Subject returned to kotatsu (see related article).

Silence observed for 00:24:13.

Subject was quietly drinking water during above period. Redness was observed on face, indicating excessive bloodflow. Emotional circuit declares this to be 'Blushing', part of a subcategory of 'Love' and 'Embarrassment' (see related articles).

During above period, NY was reading book number 398174125 (see newly created datapedia article 'The Joy of Sex').

Subject finished water at end of this period.

NY offered another drink to Subject, to which no response was made. Another attempt at communication was issued five minutes later, to which a negative response was received at a low volume.

Subject enquired as to nature of book NY was reading.

NY commenced detailed explanations of all essential information, summaries, and other topics that can be discussed through non-practical means.

00:00:10 passed before Subject made an expression of embarrassment, and an audible exclamation.

NY ended explanation of book 398174125 upon request.

Subject apologised, NY enquired as to why apology was necessary. Subject did not clarify.

Subject asked NY opinion of book, requesting that no details be made of the book itself.

Personal Opinion 1044 expressed. See relevant log.

Subject smiled lightly, faint blush apparent.

Offered book to Subject for her to read. Offer was declined profusely.

Extensive dialogue opened. Switching to script format:

NY: Do you not like this book?

Subject: I-It's not that, I just don't think that young girls should read something like that, not yet anyway.

NY: It is a standard form of pro-creation for humans. Such an act is necessary for the survival of the species.

Subject: Th-That's true, but it doesn't make it any less embarrassing to read about.

NY: ...

Subject: Do you read any other types of books?

NY: Yes, as much data as possible is absorbed via electronic means, or by reading as seen earlier. Whilst at school, particular interest is made for science fiction. Greater time is required for these books.

Subject: Are they harder to read?

NY: No.

Subject: Umm... Why does it take so long then, do you read slower?

NY: … Yes.

Subject: Okay... Do you have any classical literature that I could read now?

NY: Whilst not an extensive library, there are some books available in the spare room within the cupboard.

Subject: Thank you, Nagato-san.

NY: Is there anything else you require?

Subject: N-No... But...

NY: Yes?

Subject: You have a new TV, for me?

NY: That is correct, located in the bedroom.

Subject: Can... Can you join me? I'm a bit...

NY: You require another person to view the programs?

Subject: Y-Yes...

NY: If that is what you would like.

Script format ended, Detailed Dialogue closed.

Subject and NY sat besides each other, distance of 22.5 centimetres maintained between two individuals as accepted distance for colleagues/casual acquaintances.

Infra-red communication with remote display unit activated.

Viewing of Scheduled Programming, duration 01:03:45.

Subject mostly silent during above duration, dispersed with laughter of varying forms (see datapedia article 'Levels of Laughter')

Gradual reduction of distance noted between Subject and NY during above, initiated by the former.

Physical contact made via legs at 00:31:05. Subject made no effort to remove contact. NY did not do so either.

Body temperature of Subject according to physical contact measured 36.8 Centigrade.

Subject closed eyes at end of Scheduled Programming, lost consciousness, leant to one side and resided upon left shoulder palate.

Breathing patterns suggest Subject was sleeping.

Initiated procedures for sleeping arrangements. At slow pace, NY picked up Subject, and removed futon from storage using legs.

Placed Subject into futon and turned off light switch.

Subject displayed small smile and pulled futon covers over neck region.

Subject commenced deeper breathing (see datapedia article 'REM cycle')

NY remained awake in main room for remainder of evening/night/morning on standby.

End Log, January 6th, 07:00:00, Location 2375.5, 3492.5

**That morning**

I was thinking about poor Yuki, I could have kept her in my house that night.

Wait, what am I saying, Haruhi would have my head, maybe through jealousy, or just plain anger.

Then again, she is Nagato's sister in some way. Hopefully they got on well last night.

Seeing Haruhi already in the classroom, I walked up to her and sat in front of her, my usual seat. She was staring out of the window.

"Hey Kyon, you seen them yet?"

You mean Nagato and Yuko, nope.

"It's just a little too convenient, I talk about brothers and sisters and whatnot, and then a new member of a family is introduced, isn't that weird?"

Oh dear, she's questioning her own judgement and inadvertent creations.

"Yeah, well, stranger things have happened..."

That not a lie anyway, stranger things have indeed happened to me.

"Heh, next thing you know, someone dead will come back to life!" Haruhi laughed, "As if that could happen, eh?"

"Heh, no chance of that..."

I swallowed hard, trying not to think of the person that haunts my nightmares.

"Hey look!" I turn and sure enough, there they are, "Poor Yuko, looks like she's getting a lot of attention."

Indeed, I can see that a plethora of boys are staring at the Nagato clone, obvious by the way she's half clinging and hiding behind the stoic Nagato, who strode confidently into the school.

Somehow, from here, it looks like Nagato is defending her sister? That's difficult to believe, but I'm sure that she would want to protect her somehow.

"Haruhi," I began, "Yuko will probably be really scared by now. Since she's coming to our class, could you somehow protect her from everyone?"

I made sure she was looking at me before I flicked my eyes to Taniguchi for a second, and her face lit up, the fire in her eyes igniting this flame.

"I need to rethink your position, who would have thought that Kyon would be so sentimental?"

That doesn't paint me in a good light, what else does she think about me that I don't know about I wonder?

"The less you know..."

Her grin scared me, those glinting eyes giving me more chills down my spinal column, before her hand slammed down onto the table, scaring everyone.

"Listen here you lot!"

Great, a nice way to refer to the entire class in one derogatory tone, perfect to get them on her side.

"Yuki's got a sister, and she'll be joining this class." She waited for a few murmurs to die down before going on, "She's a little shy, so don't start crowding her and asking tonnes of questions, unless you want your heads to roll!"

I could almost see the sweatdrops forming on peoples' heads, and in some cases, visibly showing on her damp foreheads. She sat down and folded her arms, satisfied with the response.

"Haruhi, you didn't have to be so abrupt..."

"Who would listen otherwise, asking nicely would just get them even more curious, no?"

She's got a point there, Haruhi asking people to kindly not bother someone would only get get them to question what was so special about that person, thus making the rumours worse for poor Yuki.

Instead, Haruhi's idea of invoking fear into people would rightly get the result we wanted, and even more so, since people would be even less likely to become her friend in case Haruhi got angry.

That way, all she would have was the SOS Brigade to turn to.

Speaking of which, the girl in question turned up at the doorway, Nagato beside her. Was Yuki holding her hand? It definitely seemed that way, and Nagato wasn't exactly trying to extract herself from this grip.

Her eyes were scanning the class, over many unfamiliar yet familiar faces, since most of these classmates would have been in that other reality, until they met my own, and presumably Haruhi, who leapt up first to the door, almost in a single bound.

I saw her exchanging words with both Yuki and Nagato, and soon they left the room, Haruhi returning with a victorious smile.

"What was all that about?"

"Transfer students need to be introduced by the teacher, so I told Yuki and Yuko to go to the staff room, and Okabe-sensei will bring her to the classroom properly."

"Yeah, better than to have her blushing like mad in front of everyone, with a real desk."

**Ten minutes later**

And so she was here, Okabe-sensei was showing her off to the class, her bright red face an instant attraction among the male members of the class, and instant need for protection from the female.

"Nagato Yuko is the twin sister of Nagato Yuki, who as you know also goes to this school. She only recently moved here so please welcome her to our school and city."

"Umm..." She was looking at everyone, who stared back with eager eyes, aside from Haruhi and myself, who were simply warm and accepting, at least I hope they were.

"I-I'm a bit shy and don't know many people here, b-but it's nice to meet you all." Bowing lightly, she received a gentle applause from the class, with one whistle, who Haruhi and I narrowed down to Taniguchi.

"As you are already friends with Suzumiya-kun and -" and loud sneeze from Kunikida shocked everyone as he apologising, blowing his nose on a tissue, "- then you'll sit beside him for the time being."

Smiling, she bowed to Okabe-sensei, "Thank you, sensei."

Walking to her seat, eyes tracing her footsteps, she sat at the empty desk next to me.

"Feeling better, how was your evening after our call?" I asked her quietly as the class prepared for the coming lessons ahead.

"It went well, Nagato-san was good to me." She smiled to herself, "She's completely different to me..."

That's putting it mildly.

"You'll be fine, lessons aren't to different to what you're used to back home." I avoided using certain language in front of Haruhi, "You'll fit right in."

Yuki just smiled again, immediately shattering the impression of which twin this was.

**Lunchtime**

"Yuko-san, would you like to join us?"

Koizumi and Asahina-san were together outside our class, and Yuki nodded, taking her small lunch with her. Haruhi had run of somewhere, no doubt to find some more interesting things to do. I joined them as they walked to the clubroom.

There was Nagato, still reading a book about some other sort of spaceships. She wasn't moving otherwise.

"She does like a lot of books, doesn't she?"

"Huh?" Yuki spoke to me, I was surprised at her comment, "Yeah, all I see her read is sci-fi really." The blush I got in return was odd, but I chose not to press her further.

"We're here to see what we can do for Yuki-san." Koizumi spoke out, "Can she work as normal in this world?"

"I am getting used to being here, things feel more real to me now..." Yuki answered, "But it's still hard to believe, with what I had before."

Losing your friends you had must be difficult, arriving in a world where everyone looked like someone you knew, but had completely different memories to the ones she had.

"Nagato Yuko is able to function in a standard form as per usual human customs. Aside from a general confusion and anxiety prevalent due to the Slide, she is of sound mind. I am still unable to determine her location and/or physical status without further analysis to classify the Slider definition."

"I haven't got any orders or information about this from the future, so I have to assume that there is nothing wrong with her staying in this time."

They all looked at me, what, did I need to say something?

"Well, Yuki's fine here, but don't you think it's sad to be so alone?" I pointed at myself, "Let's say my sister suddenly found herself in a world without a brother and parents, how do you think she'd feel?"

Everyone got quiet, guess I hit a sore point without meaning to.

"Yuki, what do you know about your family, in the old world?"

"Well, they died when I was just about to enter high school, and then I was left with a family friend, who lived alone. Her own family was in another country, but they supported her with money, like how I had many savings on my own."

I could see tears building up in her eyes, damn, I didn't want her to cry about this.

"It's okay..." I laid my hand on her shoulder, "Your family never died, so don't be sad for them, you now have a real sister of sorts," Nagato nodded at this point, "and you have friends that'll support you for a lifetime." I angled her body to look at everyone around us, "Isn't that the most important part?"

"Everyone..." Okay, now she was crying, "You mean that?"

"Of course I do!" I nodded vigorously, since it wasn't a lie for me.

"I will be happy to help in any way possible." Koizumi chimed in.

"Me too, I don't want Yuki-san to be sad either." Asahina-san winked at her.

"Continued surveillance will be necessary, thus permanent residence with myself, along with financial support, will be a necessity and welcome."

Coming from Nagato, that is a real compliment.

Haruhi burst in at that moment, to see a crying Yuki and the rest of us just looking at her smiling.

"Yuko! What's wrong?" She ran in and held her hands, "Did someone tease you or hurt you?" She glared at me, "Who was it Kyon, was it that moron Tani-whatshisname? I'll see to him this time!"

"Haruhi-san..." Yuki spoke first, "Will you help me live my life here too?"

Thankfully, Yuki was briefed by Nagato, using language I requested her to use to prevent confusion, about Haruhi, who she was and what she was capable of.

"What's this all about? You're worried about your future?" Haruhi sounded calmer, "Are you being silly, you've got us now!" She rubbed the shorted girl's head, "We'll keep you safe from everyone, as long as there is air in my lungs, nothing will hurt you!"

At least those tears from earlier were happy ones, since they now fell, "Thank you, everyone... I... I don't feel alone any more...!"

Just as she was being enveloped in a hug by Haruhi, she pushed her back and held her chest.

"Oww.... It hurts..." She was pulling tighter at her top, then moving one of her hands to her head. "What's happening?"

"Yuko, what's wrong, are you sick?"

What's going on...? Even the others are looking at her with worry.

I stepped in, moving my hands over her shoulders to her back, seeing this pain in her eyes, trying to pull her in to a hug.

"Someone else..." She was mumbling something into my shirt, "Someone else has arrived..." I was certain that no one else could hear what she was saying, as her sobs were shrouding the words outside of my top, "Someone I know..."

I felt her become limp, and realised that she fainted, so I held onto her as she slumped to the ground. I supported her weight and looked to Koizumi, who understood immediately.

"Suzumiya-san, we're going to take her to the nurse's office, I believe all these emotions have overwhelmed her."

"Kyon!" Haruhi held the door open, "Take her there gently, and be careful! Go, full speed ahead!"

I laughed to myself that Haruhi thought that somehow I could move at full speed whilst keeping Yuki stable.

However, she had the right idea, I wanted to get her help as soon as possible.

The nurse's office was empty, and I placed her on the bed, feeling her forehead.

"She appears to be tired. Some rest will help her."

"That's not it..." I waited to see who was coming, and saw Nagato and Asahina-san turn up.

"Suzumiya-san went to find someone in the staff room to get more help."

"So, we don't have much time..." I mumbled, worried about the time we had left before Haruhi came back.

"Why?" Asahina-san asked.

"Yuki told me something before she fainted," I took another breath before going on, "She said that someone else has arrived."

"Another Slider?" Koizumi raised his eyebrow, but he wasn't amused in the least.

I turned to Nagato, "Can you detect anything about a new portal or something as yet?"

"No. I have not quantified the data regarding the nature of a Slider, nor the composition of a portal for sliding."

"My superiors haven't told me anything about this..." Asahina-san held her tiny hands together and shook herself, trying not to believe this was happening.

"There's no choice then." I made a decision there and then for everyone, "We're going back to that old portal, maybe it opened up there."

"Right now?" Asahina-san fidgeted, "Won't Suzumiya-san be angry?"

Koizumi agreed, "She's right, our absence would be bad at a time like this."

"Nagato, can you detect anything strange about that area, like last time?"

She looked at me, angling her head up, before blinking once, "There is a disturbance by way of a partition of air molecules and photons, though it does not resemble a vacuum."

"That settles it..." I laid my hand on Yuki's arm, her face was very peaceful, and it gently squeezed her to remind myself that she was still alive.

I went to the door, trying not to look back at the others, "Nagato, I need your help to close the portal. We don't even know what else could come through."

"Okay." She moved behind me, her body heat a reassuring sign.

"Koizumi, make up some excuse for us, like we're trying to find some medicine, or even her old medical records. Haruhi should buy it if you say it."

"I'll do my best." He replied.

"Good luck, Kyon-kun!" Asahina-san's welcome voice helped my conviction.

I was happy and opened the door, nodding to myself.

"Let's go Nagato... To that place..."

"Yes."

Together, we left the school with only one place in mind.

Well, my mind had an obvious question which I was begging to be answered.

Who is the other Slider?

**Author's Notes**

Slight delay on this chapter, still, it should be ending fairly soon, this wasn't intended to be another epic like TDoHS.

Till the next time!

- J


	5. The Other

**The Lost Slider**

**The Other**

**Thirty minutes later**

The shop front was dark, the sun had breached past the horizon recently, and was suitable foreboding for what we were about to do.

I held the doorway, ready to push the door open knowing that the lock would open for me, but I was still frozen by some important questions.

Why did the portal reopen, didn't we seal it previously?

How did Yuki know someone else had arrived? She's only human in this world, not an Entity Interface.

Who the hell has arrived?

Nagato removed the strange barrier only I noticed, allowing the door to push inwards. The musty smell of the disused shop front was now charged with static electricity.

And yes, that ugly orange rip in the fabric of space-time through the universes was also there.

"I calculate that this was in existence for forty two minutes precisely."

So, the time that Yuki felt this presence...

"Can you find the Slider?" I knew I was asking too much.

"No, complete absence of common properties between members of the Sliding contingency results in negative detection of another person." Nagato was still looking at the portal, "I am still unable to detect the previous Slider. Confirmation is only guaranteed by physical contact or visual sighting, due to previous association with said person."

Again, no difference here, just because she knew that Yuki was the Slider, seeing her meant that her senses could detect her, if only by sight, and presumably any physical contact would result in the same response.

"In other words, you're still reduced to human forms of detection for the Slider, no data manipulation."

"Correct, though we are processing the data for Sliding detection at maximum priority. It is only a matter of time before we can locate them using our abilities."

I hoped this was sooner rather than later.

"Can you close it again?"

"Yes, although I am unable to prevent further reopenings, as displayed by this very portal."

"Better closed than leaving it wide open."

"Confirmed. Activating Sliding Portal Shutdown Procedures."

The air around the orange began to shimmer, and slowly the air ate away at the portal, reducing in size consistently.

However, just before it shut completely, two things happened.

One, a tiny part of a head appeared through the opening, the eye looking through to our world before staring at me.

Two, an epileptic-attack-inducing flash of white, blue and red almost at the same time.

The white flash was a silvery object, travelling at high speed through the now closed portal.

The blue flash was a defensive barrier which Nagato had raised at the last second, only for the glow to be shattered like glass by the previous object.

The red flash was a large gouge and high pressure blood flow emanating from my neck, as the knife sliced me just deep enough.

I can't begin to describe the pain, my eloquent speech is being drowned out by the blood filling my throat anyway.

I'll just leave you with my falling unconscious...

**Later**

My head is pounding, my mouth is dry and I find myself staring into Nagato's eyes.

"You have regained consciousness."

"How long was I out for?" I moved my hand to my neck, only to feel a small hand already there. Coughing with embarrassment, I realised it still hurt.

"Seven minutes and twenty two seconds. You suffered a laceration hitting the common carotid artery due to a metallic projectile from the Sliding portal prior to its shutdown." She spoke in her neutral tone, "Death would occur in less than five minutes without immediate medical care." She blinked once, not a good sign, "Due to the nature of the injury, and the Sliding properties of the blade, whilst most damage has been recovered, further repairs are required."

I see, so even items from the Slider's world are not subject to our rules.

"Is that why the dagger broke through your barrier?"

"Yes, it completely bypassed it and was not slowed in the slightest."

"Oww..." My neck felt sore.

"Skin restoration in progress, you may feel some slight discomfort."

My eyes tracked back and saw the dagger embedded up to the hilt in the wall of the shop. I'm only thankful that it didn't hit me full on...

Some time passed, and it only struck me until my neck healed when I noticed that I was lying on her lap.

"It seemed pertinent to elevate your head during the processing."

I guess that's a good reason.

"Can I move yet?" I didn't want to get up before I was ready.

"Yes." She removed her hand, "Your body has been restored to its original state."

"Thanks, Nagato." I sat up, feeling my neck which still felt a little tender, but not surprising given the skin was probably seconds old.

That eye, I knew who it belonged to, but I didn't want to think back to it.

"Please, don't tell anyone about what happened to me." I didn't want Asahina-san to worry, or for Koizumi to get close to me again, like that time with that mole.

"If that is what you want." Nagato stood up, "We should search the nearby area."

"Yeah, but I doubt we'll find someone we know so easily..." Getting to my feet, I looked at the room again, "This place is beginning to give me the creeps, the way things change each time we come here."

Nagato opened the door and as we walked outside, my words were not confident in the slightest, "Okay, we'll try the main street, but then we have to go home."

"I can search indefinitely, I require no sleep."

Nagato, don't overstretch yourself, you've already done enough, "There's no need, whoever it will find us soon."

As expected ten minutes later, we left to our relative homes, ready for the next day.

**8am**

I looked up at the hill to our school, it was dauntingly high today. I barely had enough sleep just thinking about how close to death I was.

If Nagato wasn't there...

I swallowed hard, another reminder that even something that simple wasn't possible yesterday evening in the shop without gulping another helping of blood.

A waft of mint accosted my senses and it came from my left.

"Huh?"

Tsuruya-san was looking determined, coming towards the corner I was about to go up to the school. It was a little odd since she walks from a different direction.

I waved to her, sending a good morning her way, as it is always good to respect your elders, even those that are just one level of mystery that has yet to be revealed.

She was looking at me fully now, just a few steps away, before I noted one thing which didn't belong on her face.

A frown.

"Oh shi-!"

Grabbing my tie, she pulled me away from the main road and dragged me into the bushes, further into a small park, passing through it to wasteland, then into a piece of property of which construction had halted for the time being.

Remembering I had my bag still, I swung it at her to get away. Her reactions were true as ever, and she merely smacked my arm, throwing my aim wildly and letting my bag hit the wall harmlessly.

She didn't hold back either, slamming me against the same wall with a lot of strength behind it. Her hand was now holding my neck tightly.

"You bastard..." She spat, her fury marring that otherwise perfect, beautiful face.

"Sorry, Tsuruya-san." If she was anything like her counterpart on this world, I knew my strength would be nothing but a mere fly to a ravenous spider, useless resistance, "Kill me if you must, but I want you to know that I didn't mean to harm you or the others."

Her grip was becoming dangerous now, before loosening.

"Stupid fool, why woulds I kill you?"

Her face was still angry, but that frown was one of confusion now, as she lowered that powerful fist of hers, those fingers looking that each one could break a bone in my body.

"I needed to get you, nows, before it was too late..."

She turned around now, that long green hair just like our own, but her stance, if anything, was more focussed than our Tsuruya-san, if that was even possible.

"Kyon, you destroyeds our world. You chose your originals land, rejecting our one." She spun on the spot, pointing at me, "You alone are accountable."

"Accountable, for what?" That moment, my throat had finally expanded enough after the pressure Tsuruya-san exerted on it.

Those eyes peered at me, looking beneath my skin, much like a girl I am all too close to, and yet, she reminded me of myself, with her inquisitive stare and accusing tone.

"You are responsible for the deaths of six billion people."

The hollow voice, those empty eyes, that face of righteous anger, drilled those words into me better than any combat dagger could penetrate.

I felt my legs give way, and the illness of realising what I had done rushed through me.

"I killed everyone?"

I never thought of it that way, Nagato only created the Emergency Escape Program for me, to rewrite reality. It was simply our world rewritten with new personalities.

"Though it did seem likes it reverted back to your reality, it instead mades our world a rejected version, and sent our universe intos a total collapse."

She was getting more agitated, maybe the memories for her were even worse.

"Even though your world's version of Yuki-chan was ables to change the planet, once you left, without you as an anchor of sorts, the universe wents down the plughole."

"But that's insane!" I was dumbfounded to say the least, "What if I died, or was in an accident, would your universe end anyway?"

Her laugh, tinged with bitterness thundered in the rickety old building, "We'll never knows now, will we?" She shrugged, "Maybe the fact you weres still 'there', dead, meant something. Perhaps the program itself was coded to self destructs?"

I kept quiet, noticing something that had only occurred to me that instant.

"If that's the case, how did you survive?"

Uh-oh, that frown again, maybe I shouldn't upset her any more than she is currently.

"It's funnys, your pervy alter ego didn't come back when yous left. The day the police founds Yuki-chan lying in front of the school, we looked everywheres, and you went missing. She couldn't remember anythings, like why she was in front of the school to begins with. We couldn't find you anywheres. Ironically, you weres the main suspect."

I swallowed, her uncanny knowledge hitting too close to the truth.

"I starteds to look for you, trying to find out more abouts you and Yuki-chan, and I felt that something odd was happening." A pensive gaze was levelled at me, "Somehow, you found two people froms another school, and even gots Mikuru to join you. The moment you pressed that keys, you disappeared with a smile on your face."

"Wait..." I held my hand up, "That still doesn't answer my question." I paused, feeling bad about that time, "Did Asahina-san tell you I left?"

"Yes she did, and that other girl was reallys annoyed from what she tells me." Tsuruya-san folded her arms, "Then Yuki-chan just vanisheds in the middle of class a week ago. That's when I knews you were strange."

"Me?" I laughed, "I'm only human, not an esper, alien or time traveller."

"Slider?"

I was about to deny it before I understood, "It wasn't intentional, it's not like I wanted to be there."

"When we started to see the stars die, everyones panicked. The Earth killed itself befores the end of our reality, so much terrors, sadness..." She closed her eyes, "Our town was still bearables, so the children stayed in the schools. There was nowheres to run. The girls tried to fight off the boys..."

I slumped my shoulders, understanding immediately. If the whole world would end, chaos would rules. Wars would be fought to settle age old scores, religions would flourish in their doomsday sayings, and finally mankind would resort to cavemen mentalities, lusting after anyone possible.

"I kept them away sfrom Mikuru, but soon that Taniguchi hit mes good."

Bastard, I'll punch my own one in revenge.

A rare smile from this Tsuruya-san emerged, guess humour does reach her on some level.

"That girl you weres with, Haruhi-san, and that quiet boy, Koizumi-kun, they cames to protect Mikuru, and me because of what I was doings."

My jaw dropped, how could that girl get in so much trouble in even that reality?

"We stayed there for two days, then it was onlys one hour to go until the Moon vanished into the darkness. In that clubroom, wes were safe, until that girl came."

"Girl...?"

"The only other person who was founds with Yuki, remaining in a comas in the hospital in Tokyo."

"But that can only be..."

Suddenly, the eye from the portal came back to me, and that serrated edge of the dagger.

"Asakura Ryouko."

She nodded, "The moment she saws me from the window, I knew we woulds die that day. Those screams..."

Again, a simple guess from me would be that she reverted to her last emotion, and chose to brutally murder everyone in the school, until she got to the clubroom.

"Haruhi-san was boarding up the door, somehows she knew that this would be the ends, and Koizumi-kun was preparing to fight."

I didn't have to ask about Asahina-san, she was probably frightened in the corner furthest from the door.

"What were you doing?"

She grinned now, "I felt this urge, to finds the truth of who you were, of Yuki-chan, and even Ryouko-chan... I turneds on that computer and started typing even while it was bootings."

This was quite creepy, the way she leered over this.

"It looks like, despite my borings normal life, I wanted a little excitements and adventure in it as well."

"Oh..."

Now I knew who she reminded me of...

"Somehows, I stumbled upon that text, those messages you got, and wrotes my own code, don't ask me how."

I saw her hand, the right one specifically, begin to turn silver and translucent at the same time.

"The clubroom door openeds, but we all escaped from her, followings where Yuki-chan went."

This was unexpected, "All of us?"

"What, you thought you could just up and leave us, huh, John?"

There are few moments in one's life where events that defined your reality occur.

Meeting the strange girl known as Haruhi Suzumiya was one of them. The way my life got flipped and turned upside down, and that's how I became so used to mayhem.

When I was lost in an alternate version of my world, again seeing that odd girl again affected me in such a way as to help me get home, even if it was by pure accident.

That's why seeing her in my own real world was such a big shock.

"Haruhi..."

"Yo, John." She waved at me with that pseudonym of mine, the only name she knew me by, "Been a while, huh?"

"I'm sorry..." I bowed to her, only just noticing that Koizumi and Asahina-san were beside her, "I really did have fun there, but I wanted to be back in my home, where everything else was familiar to me."

"Bah, forget about it, water under the bridge." She discounted my apology like it was meaningless, "We're alive, that's what matters."

Feeling somewhat stupid now, I was nonetheless happy.

"It's good to see you again, all of you."

Koizumi bowed lightly to me, and Asahina-san stared at me with large teary eyes.

"So, what are your plans?"

Tsuruya-san took up the lead now, not Haruhi, which again was another surprise, "These guys are just normals, I'm different somehow. So, I'm going to finds another world for us, to live like befores."

"Can you do that?" I was surprised at her directness.

"I've found a world alreadys, I need two days to charge ups my hand before taking my friends with mes."

Her smile was sincere, and her happiness contagious.

In a world without espers, aliens and time travellers, even no reality altering being, there was someone who subconsciously wished to have a little more fun in an unconventional way, whilst being surrounded by a mundane life.

The only difference with Haruhi was that the latter preferred to have fun all the time, regardless of what she was doing or wanted to do, and to the detriment of those people who followed her.

Of course, she had the uncanny ability to mould things to her vision if things weren't going according to plan, hence the need to pacify her all the time.

Therefore, I had met my equivalent in that destroyed universe, that optimistic green-haired girl.

Tsuruya-san, or should I say, Tsuruya-senpai, lost her smile.

"She is coming..." She looked up at the ceiling, staring through it like it was glass, "It's only a matter of time before she can break through that barrier and then from Xen into this reality."

"But, why is she following you?"

Tsuruya-senpai shook her head, but Haruhi answered, "You still don't get it, do you John?" She sighed and looked at me like I was a five year old, "She's not after Tsuruya, she wants to kill you."

"M-Me?"

My neck began to itch, and I thought my fingers came back stained red after I scratched it.

"Well, I don't want to hurt you, I just want to get out of this crazy reality of yours..." Haruhi grumbled, "Koizumi-kun and Mikuru-chan want to live normal too, don't you?"

They both nodded.

"While I may still be a normal human, I too feel that this world isn't right for me."

Grr, he still had similar mannerisms to our own copy.

"Umm..." The girl who thought bad of me raised her hand, "I don't know what's wrong, but this place makes me ill inside."

I can't imagine what that is like.

"So you sees, you need to stay low." Tsuruya-senpai slapped her hand on my shoulder, "Find your friends and prepare for a fight."

With that, she opened the door to the building and pushed me out, "Now get to school, wes can't have you skipping classes now, cans we?"

Mumbling my apologies, I jogged back to the main road and after losing my energy and adrenaline from earlier, I struggled up the hill.

**4pm**

**Clubroom**

"... and that's about the size of it..."

Koizumi had on his thinking seriously face, which meant that he looked like his normal self, "So, we need to be ready to defeat her?"

Nagato stood up and walked towards us, "Slider properties are not fully decoded yet, so we cannot ascertain as to whether our own personal defences will be satisfactory to defeat items or people from an alternate dimension."

"Y-You mean, they might be able to walk through your barrier?" Asahina-san shivered.

Haruhi was out on a wild goose chase, thanks to us suggesting to our Tsuruya-san to let slip a small secret about the school janitor. Thankfully Koizumi got help from the Organisation to leave a shifty character there and take her to a strange building, which she insisted on investigating on her own.

"Asakura-san is coming...?"

Yuki's face was painful to look at, her emotions were obviously torn, but knowing the truth of what she was now from our world, she couldn't see her entirely as her old friend.

I know how she was feeling, when I first met Haruhi, and indeed everyone else from the SOS Brigade, I saw them as normal people, aside from a few eccentricities. However, finding out their true natures meant that it was hard to see them the same way again.

However, I wouldn't change that for the world, even though this has technically happened to me in December.

"Yes, she is, but she's after me alone..." I heated up, but being surrounded by my friends helped me regain a sense of security..

"No..." Yuki held her chest again, and grabbed my sleeve, "Asakura-san is coming... Now..."

She shook as the sky outside began to flash.

"There appears to be a disturbance developing in the commercial district of the town."

Koizumi spoke as he looked out the window, only for his phone to ring.

Asahina-san held a hand to her ear and froze, her eyes widening.

Nagato stopped moving completely, even her autonomous breathing.

Yuki went to the window, leaving my arm and looking out at the black cloud in the distance.

"She's arrived..." She began to shake, "I'm scared, how can we beat her? She's coming to kill you..."

Koizumi moved in suddenly to me, "We have a situation." I moved my head back to escape his personal space, "An abnormal Closed Space has formed."

"A massive Time quake has been detected, changes are reverberating in my time."

"There has been a large expulsion of data emanating from within the city limits."

"Wait, does this mean Haruhi was bothered by something?" I looked at the skies too and saw that black cloud dissipate like steam.

"It most likely means that whatever happened in that area may have been due to something Suzumiya-san wished for, or alternatively made her excited."

Great, so her imagination dreamed up this horrific portal or whatever to appear there?

"But, what does this mean?" Yuki was still looking out the window, "Why would she use those weird powers of hers?"

I felt my blood run colder, only one reason came to mind.

"That must be it..." I shuddered, "She must have seen her. That girl..."

:But that's...!" Asahina-san jolted, "She can't have...!"

"It is likely..." Koizumi rubbed his chin, "We were arranging that small scenario for Suzumiya-san far from the central shopping location, but it is another possibility that either she got very bored of tailing our man, or simply, Asakura Ryouko appeared near Suzumiya-san."

"I am unable to detect her as a member of the Data Integrated Thought Entity. Asakura Ryouko is most likely one hundred percent human, albeit from the Alternate Dimension."

I'm still in two doubts as to whether she was human, she did seem fairly adept at the knife when she held it, and during that throw earlier.

Regardless, we can't leave her alone, if she's out to kill me, we might as well go to her. No sense in getting family members, or heaven forbid, Haruhi.

"Let's go find her. If she's coming for me, then we might as well dictate the place."

"You mean to set up an ambush?" Koizumi thought to himself, "There are a few places which would give us the advantage, but as you said, we don't know her true abilities."

"Okay, we'll talk about them on the way." I stood up, "Asahina-san, Yuki, stay home, they're after me, and you two should be safe away from us."

"Kyon-kun..." The third year shook, "I can't let you fight on your own, I've got to be there, for you, for all of us."

I guess Haruhi really did pick her as a mascot.

"I want to talk to Asakura-san one more time." Yuki turned around to look at us, her eyebrows tilted downwards, an angry expression blighting her face, "I need to know what she is thinking about."

"Are you sure Yuki-san?" Koizumi replied, "It will be dangerous, and we can't guarantee your safety."

"I will protect her." Nagato moved next to Yuki, the twins now standing as one, determined and for the first time, the same impression of strength from both of them.

"I am someone from an alternate world, perhaps I'll be able to detect her faster than any of you, I can already sense that she is in this world."

"Then it's settled." I wasn't going to delay this any longer, "Let head for that place again."

The place which many special events happened for me, as if that area has become the clubroom's play area outside of hours.

That sole park bench.

**Author's Notes**

Next, we finally meet Ryouko, no point in dragging out this story any longer than it has already been.

Glad to see the old non-SOS Brigade again though, and Tsuruya wanting more fun in her old life, just like Kyon when he rejected the alternate world, was great to write.

- Jason


	6. Asakura

**The Lost Child**

**Asakura**

**5pm**

The sky had become a neat shade of orange, the sun merging with the lampposts which were now casting their pale light onto the gravel pathways in the park.

"My colleagues have established enough influence to prevent some civilians to get in, but there might be one or two might slip who through the net."

"I have erected a barrier constructed of two layers. One whereby any non-combatant will experience a sense of uncertainty over particular aspects related to a different location at that precise moment, thereby redirecting them to another area until the duration of the active field. The secondary barrier is a physical wall constructed of high density molecules and atoms of the composition of air, thereby being phased out of visible range into higher spectra of light."

Nagato said the above without any shift in her voice, I found it hard to breathe after her statement was made with barely a pause.

"Umm, my superiors have told me to keep watch, we are not allowed to interfere any further. We do not exactly have any abilities other than that to travel through time."

"I can't feel any difference to our surroundings, but I do get the impression that Asakura-san is aware of where we are, and of our precautions."

I looked at each one of them in turn, Koizumi, Nagato, Asahina-san and Yuki, and thought of why they were here.

"You know..." I sat on the bench illuminated by the lamp above it, "None of you need to be here. If Nagato is correct, and I'm certain of given a specific incident earlier, then our defences will be nothing against her."

"It matters not, we are here because we choose to be." Koizumi spoke elegantly as always, "Remember, Suzumiya-san chose you to be the only normal human in the SOS Brigade, we can't have you suffering any injury. Also, I personally believe that you are important to her, and us, in more ways than that mere fact."

I sighed, it was hard to argue with him, though I did like to disagree often. I knew that they would all stay now, given how far we have gone together.

"Fine, so what do we do now?"

Nagato turned her head, "All bandwidth with the Data Integrated Thought Entity is now being dedicated to de-constructing Slider rudimentaries and matter patterns to later form retaliatory methods." She was staring at my face and blinked, "We must wait a little longer."

"Kyon-kun..." Asahina-san was pressing her hand to her left ear, "I think this is getting dangerous. Any information about this battle is slowly becoming less clear. My superiors state that though it may be Classified Information, even they are losing the facts from their own records, as if it is being erased from history."

"Wait..." I turned sharply to her, emitting a small 'meep' from her, "What does that mean, that this fight doesn't take place? Do we write ourselves out of history?"

She shook her head, that perfect hair bouncing cutely from side-to-side, "No, we are sure that the fight continues and that it does have a result, but we simply do not know what happens during the fight, nor the precise ending."

"How do they get this information? From history books, word-of-mouth?"

"Yes, but if there are no official records, namely secret events, then first-hand accounts are required."

I thought about the meaning of what she said and spoke slowly, "So, you mean that your account of the battle is being forgotten? And for all of us as well?"

"That... That seems to be the case."

It didn't look like we were going to die, but perhaps we would lose our memories? That is a bit strange.

Koizumi brought up a good point, "Is it not possible that perhaps information was being withheld from yourself at this point?"

"I suppose so..."

Asahina-san was holding her bottom lip, her brow furrowed in confusion. It was good to see her serious once in a while.

She glanced up at me and blushed, covering her face momentarily.

"Kyon-kun, don't think bad thoughts about me. I'm always serious when it comes to disruptions in the timeline."

She's right about that, I do forget this now and then. Not to mention that in the future she would eventually grow up to that age of hers which I rarely see.

"Unauthorised code execution in Sector C-12." Nagato looked at me, "A person or persons unknown have entered from the North entrance of the park."

"No idea who it is then?"

"Negative. The area in which the person passed through suffered a colossal failure and has been fractured. Unable to restore this region."

"You said 'code execution', does it mean a Human Interface like yourself?"

"Not necessarily, the mere existence of a being capable of corrupting and destroying code would be seen as using a form of code to gain access, even if that program was their own body emitting some exception to the rules enforced by myself."

"I've not heard anything from my colleagues, she must have entered away from their surveillance." Koizumi was holding out his phone.

"It's her..." Yuki stood in front of us, "She's looking around now, thinking of where to go, but she will be here soon."

"So, it's now or never..."

I got up from the bench and looked at everyone one last time.

"Koizumi, any chance you can use your abilities in Closed Space here?"

"Uncertain..." He held out his hand and concentrated, "I can ascertain that this particular pathway, similar to the clubroom, has its own field of distortion whereby several interesting events have occurred here."

His hand now bore a small glowing orb, almost exactly the same size as that when battling the cave cricket.

I didn't need to ask Nagato, I was sure that her abilities were almost at full potential, ready for anything. Asahina-san was out of the question, though her cheers would definitely help us all.

Yuki was defenceless, slider or not, so I needed to protect her.

Myself, well, there was no mistaking my stance as a normal human being. So I had to act as one. It's not like Haruhi would just suddenly make me a big damn hero for no reason, though it would be good to have her on our side this time around.

"Asakura-san..." Yuki spoke, just as the lamppost near the far end of the path going out one by one, barely illuminating the person who flitted beneath each one, that deep blue hair too easy to recognise.

Soon, she was at the last lamppost, with nothing but a pale circle of white keeping her in our vision, shadows between her and our own lamp.

"So, you're all here..." She held up her customary weapon of choice, "Too bad I didn't sever your head that time, Kyon..." Her giggles sent my spine into a rapid juddering due to the nature of her laugh.

"You're different..." I could see something was odd about her.

"My, how astute of you, Kyon-kun..." She licked her blade before bowing, "I have grown up, waiting to meet you again."

She wasn't lying, Asakura was taller, not by a foot, but a noticeable amount. Her curves had also increased to fanservice levels, not unlike Asahina-san (Big). That hair was also reaching to beneath her knees, longer than even Tsuruya-san's own.

"Looks like you had a hard time, Ryouko-san..." I smiled nervously, "How was that world of yours?"

That face remained smiling, but when she looked at me, those eyes were cold and cat-like, "You and your stupid decisions. Why you chose to leave in that way, I'll never understand..." She moved away from the lamp and got closer, but we were still able to see her figure in the dark, "Sure, you accused me, saying I shouldn't be there, that I was 'away'. I couldn't just kill you there and then, because you were not threatening to kill Yuki, and those were the only conditions for my immediate reversal into combat mode."

"You know full well that Nagato didn't consciously wish for that! Due to the problems with her data, some instructions or code for rewriting the world must have been corrupted and created you along with them."

"Oh, so you're saying that Nagato did wish for her new self to be a complete loner, afraid of people, as well as being an orphan of sorts in a large apartment building all to herself."

The path, just at the edge of our lamp light, was sliced up and a large crack appeared in it.

"That's far enough..." Koizumi held his flaming orb dangerously.

Asakura Ryouko just gave him a cursory glance but did stop in her movements, just the lower part of her face highlighted by the lamp.

"No, it was all because of you. Out of everyone, she chose you to remain yourself in a world which had changed. In doing that, she tried to keep you sane in a world gone mad, but was unable to give herself a good life because she was so busy protecting your memories and giving you a way out should you not have liked it. Due to petty emotions, she threw away her only chance of salvation and freedom by taking you into account, and you took it away from us."

"Us?" I had to laugh, "So, you're upset that Nagato brought you back, only for me to ignore your wishes as well. I don't remember having you a part of the SOS Brigade that she wanted in order to activate the program." I held my chin, thinking about it further, "In fact, you could say simply that she didn't even consider you to be included whatsoever."

"Shut up..."

She swung her knife again, a ringing sound echoed as the air moved around it, and another crack appeared in the ground in front of us, which made me realise that it was her and not Koizumi who did that earlier.

"The time for talking is over. Now I must finish it for good, so I can be free."

"Wait!"

Yuki shouted out once, startling all of us.

"Asakura-san, why are you doing this, why are you here?"

The evil grin was replaced with one of genuine friendship, and you could see the perfect class representative in that calm visage.

"Yuki, I'm just doing this for your sake, you know that don't you?" She withdrew something from her inside pocket slowly, to show a pair of glasses. "You forgot these too, don't you remember?"

Bringing her arms to her face, Yuki started, only noticing then that she had not been wearing them, nor did she realise that she had no need for them either.

"Come on, let me put them on you now..." She smiled bigger, but held the dagger in the place of the glasses now.

Suddenly growing scared, she moved behind me, no longer recognising her old friend.

Widening her eyes, Asakura lunged at us, only to receive a faceful of fire.

Koizumi's palm was smoking, and another ball appeared as he leapt to the side.

Nagato stepped in front of me and muttered an incantation, making the gravel to the side of the path levitate and turn into circular blades of their own made out of stone.

Hurling them at the smoke from the previous attack, the sound of the ground crunching again meant they missed their target.

"Up here little sister!"

Coming in to land at high speed, Asakura was diving arms first, the point of her dagger aiming directly for Nagato.

Multiple shields were broken through until at last Nagato retreated by stepping back three times, allowing Asakura to land into the ground.

The dust was thick enough for me to be coughing profusely, as were Asahina-san and Yuki. Nagato stood over the crater staring down into the hole.

A chuckle filtered its way upwards.

"Did you think I spent those ten years hunting for you in those parallel worlds for my own pleasure?"

The silver flash darted out, but that serrated blade was caught by Nagato millimetres from impact between her eyebrows.

She then began to bleed from her mouth.

Surprised at this incongruity, Nagato's eyes tracked downwards to see a thin and graceful hand protruding from her chest, coated in red life fluid.

Asakura had somehow done the impossible and had burst up from the ground behind Nagato and stabbed her with her own fingers.

I knew now that this was a losing battle.

"Nagato-san!" Asahina-san cried out, seeing the blood drip heavily.

"Nagato, get away from her!" I yelled, moving backwards with Asahina-san and Yuki behind me due to the extremely close proximity to the two fighters.

She looked from the dagger to me, "I am fi-fi-fi-fi-fi-fi-fi-fi-"

"Nagato..." I had never heard her stammer, it was just like a computer looping a sound repeatedly when it has crashed.

"Oh dear, it looks like you've developed some errors of your own..." Asakura rotated her hand and arm inside the chest wound, feeling her fingers, "Must be some bad coding, even your blood feels fake, poor thing..."

Sensing something, Asakura pulled her arm out and skidding backwards on the path until she reached the small stream just opposite the bench, her left foot getting wet.

Koizumi zoomed by having just flung another fireball in that very spot, just barely missing her before she escaped. It looked like he was flying somehow, maybe this space was becoming more unreal.

Koizumi narrowed his eyes and began to throw several more fireballs at Asakura, dispensing with any of his trademarked attack names in order to keep up the pressure.

"That's it... Show me what you've got!" She was enjoying every moment,

"-fi-fi-fi-fi-" Nagato was still holding the dagger and hadn't moved a muscle, the blade appeared to be glowing.

Her eyes were angling slowly at me, the spark inside of them trying to escape. They then moved to the dagger, then back at me.

I understood there and then. Ignoring the danger and of leaving the other two behind me unprotected, I ran to Nagato and snatched away the knife, only then feeling the extreme temperatures of hot and cold searing and freezing my skin.

Jerking it away from me, I threw it far away as my own body rejected it, knowing deep down that it was bad news.

"Nagato..." I could see right through that horrid wound inflicted on her, the edges tinged with a green electrical jolts.

"-fi-fi-fi-fi-fi-ne." She blinked two times. "Buffer cleared. Emergency reboot activated. Twenty seconds to full virus deletion."

The life behind her eyes vanished, her head slumped forwards and Nagato lost all muscle control, becoming nothing more than a lifeless doll as her body collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.

Catching her before she damaged herself any more than she was currently, I saw that the hole was losing that sickly green tone to it. I'll have to admit that it is disturbing to see her essentially dead, not even her simulated breathing was running, her vacant eyes staring into nothingness.

I heard Yuki and Asahina-san run up behind me.

"Kyon-kun... Is she-"

"She'll wake up..." I looked in front to see Koizumi slam into the far lamppost, smashing the bulb in the process and finally leaving our one with the only light, other than his occasional fireball.

"Kyon, that knife, it's not normal..." Yuki whispered to me, she could see it in the distance somehow, "It's not just because it was from my world, but there's something else wrong with it."

"I know..." My hand still tingled from whatever it was doing to me, "Nothing normal could do this kind of thing to Nagato..." I held my neck, "It can't just be from your world. There's more to it than that."

Nagato's eyes snapped open, "Reboot complete. Virus purged. Initiating Terminal restoration."

Placing a hand over where her heart should have been, were there not a large gap, streams of SQL text filtered out and her body regenerated itself as her lips chattered that language at hyperspeed. Within seconds, her body was fine, even her uniform was restitched together.

"Restoration Complete." Nagato stood up, just as Koizumi landed in a pile at her feet, his arm at an odd angle.

"Sorry, looks like I can't beat her alone..." He stood up pained, leaving his broken arm to the side and using the other to produce his only offensive weapon, "However, it doesn't mean I'm going to stop either."

I saw his hair float as he too began to hover, and slowly he grew red. I don't mean as if he were angry, but literally his skin and even his clothes.

Okay, this is now so close to being a region of Closed Space it was no longer funny. This park bench may become a new altered place thanks to the powers from Haruhi and all the members of her SOS Brigade.

"Now, now Itsuki-kun, you need to play nice, or I'll have to up the stakes..."

Asakura leapt for that knife, left lying in the grass since I threw it, and the feeling of dread numbed me.

"Koizumi, don't go near her!"

A white line was all I saw in the shadows above me, the red shining body of Koizumi now disappeared, followed by the splash of red onto our lamppost, casting us in a crimson shade.

Nagato raised a soft version of her shield to catch the limp body of Koizumi, a wan smile present on his pale face.

"S-Sorry, looks like she cut the tendons in my legs." Indeed, his legs were sliced and his trousers were growing damper from the cuts, "Guess I'm out for the count..." Nagato immediately began to heal him, using some of her power for this purpose.

"You know..."

Asakura's voice was too, too close, and she was edging Asahina-san away from us whilst waving her knife lazily in front of her face. I was too mortified that she got through our defences to move to stop her.

"When in another world, I met this delightful man, kept calling me his harlequin. He had had this thing with knives too, told me how to put a permanent smile on peoples' faces."

I ran now, seeing Asahina-san pressed against the tree. No matter how many forcefields Nagato erected, Asakura just walked through them.

She smiled widely, the edges of her lips now appearing to be splitting up to make it seem even larger.

"Would you like me to teach you how to smile, too?"

Shrieking with fear, Asahina-san cowered in fear, and I drew my fist to punch that smirk off Asakura's face.

Just my luck, she was using this moment to bait me. That edge of her knife arced its way over to intercept with my face, and I doubt that Nagato could stop my body from dying after having it plunge into my brain via my mouth.

Accepting my fate, I closed my eyes.

Only to be dragged from behind, feeling the wind from the blade pass by my nose.

I looked behind me and saw the others all looking at me with wonder. This conjured up an interesting possibility that somehow I halted my own progress without my knowing, an innate ability maybe?

Well, no as it turned out.

I looked down further and saw a small white portal with just a single hand grabbing the back of my uniform.

The portal vanished and even as I tumbled backwards to safety, Asahina-san fell backwards into another one, only to land behind Nagato, Koizumi and Yuki.

"Yo, Kyon, looks like you need some helps!"

The casual wave with a silvery translucent hand belonged to none other than Tsuruya-senpai.

"Umm, Tsu-Tsuruya-san?" Asahina-san was confused now, looking at that odd appendage.

"Sorry kid, wrong ones!" She grinned widely and ruffled her hair, making our time traveller a little dishevelled, her confused face turning into childish whining as her bouncy locks were now messed up.

"So, you escaped a similar way, didn't you?"

Asakura was now livid that again she lost the chance to impale me with her knife.

"Not quites..." Tsuruya-senpai held up her special hand as she walked through our group to stand in next to me, "Turns out that I was injured when I was youngs and had a specials implant put in my hand..." She looked it over, "I was doing some research heres on this world. It's a titanium-caesium alloy, somewhats cylindrical also." She glanced at me here, "That's how I got that special code."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Asakura spat at her, "Will that measly sliding device defend against this?"

Her blade glowed further and now I could see why it was a problem. It had extended to the length of a katana now.

"Yes, I can see it nows... Whilst my own opens portals to the same Earths or to different realities, yours can also taint anys object or person to be erased froms that reality. It is also impervious to anys defences in the realities you invaded, and can only be countered withs weapons from other realms."

"Exactly right, my dear slider sibling..." Asakura mocked, twirling the katana like it was second nature to her, "I was planning on making everyone suffer, but you have made me bring out the full power to kill them faster." She sneered at the silver hand, "Doesn't look very powerful, so this will be quick."

"Uh-uh-uh!" Tsuruya-senpai tsked loudly, "While it doesn't delete anythings from one reality, it cans do something else special."

"Oh?" Asakura ran in, "What that then?"

Tsuruya-senpai grinned toothily, "Sending out an SOS."

Her hand glowed silver and four white portals opened up.

"Heh, as if that would st-"

Asakura didn't get any further as she was blasted back by a supersonic punch, a white beam of light, a flaming fireball bigger than Koizumi's, and the distinct sound of gunfire.

Asahina-san fainted, not because of anything that happened to her, but it would now be obvious to see why.

From one of the portals, Asahina-san (Big) stepped out confidently, her hair billowing from the winds of the sliding portal. She glanced at me standing beside Tsuruya-senpai and winked.

"Hi honey, did you miss me?"

"Huh?" I scratched my head, "Honey?"

Her giggle put me off track, "Sorry, got confused for a moment..." She turned to Asakura and held her hand to her ear, "Must be prepared. TPDD Achievement Unlocked, Time Stop!" A cube surrounded the katana-wielding girl, pausing her actions.

From another portal came a sassy girl, rather in-your-face and wearing the same uniform from our school. She had both hands holding a fireball each, but extinguished them for the time being at seeing me.

After checking me out, she pouted, "Well, you're kinda handsome when you're a guy, but sorry, you're not my type, Kyonko..."

"Kyon... ko?" Again another puzzle.

"Sorry, wrong name..." Upon my exasperated look she shrugged, "Yeah, I know, different reality, different chromosome alignments, infinite possibilities for further permutation..." Producing her fireballs again she hurled them at Asakura, delaying the latter's attack further.

Wait, was she a female Koizumi? Then she must be Itsu-ko, perhaps? I can't imagine what my person was like... Doubt I'd be very interesting, short hair, definitely nothing that sticks out like a ponytail or cardigan...

A small figure came out from the third portal, clad in a pale blue kimono and almost a clone for our version aside from the longer hair which reached the top of the shoulders.

"Kyon."

Okay, now I'm shocked, in all my time of speaking with my Nagato, she has never ever said my name.

This new Nagato continued, bowing to me once gently, "While you may not be my husband in this reality," She flicked her eyes to her alter-ego, "I will protect you all the same."

"H-H-Husband?" I reeled back, but at the same time was curiously intrigued. Meanwhile, our Nagato blinked three times.

She turned to Asakura and, it's kind of hard to describe but I'll try, she became an angel. An ascension of sorts, she was surrounded by a yellow light, a halo appeared above her and wings unfurled behind her. If you looked closely, you could see that these were made of SQL code, billions of characters in length.

It was then I realised that she was the Data Integrated Thought Entity herself.

"Extrapolating possible escape routes, boundaries raised, assigning attack vectors in quadrants A1 to G5." Her voice was different in this new form, a mature voice replacing that of Nagato's. Her eyes were also yellow, "Fire."

Blades of grass flew towards Asakura, who dodged to one side only to bounce off a data barrier, leading to have each one land true. She was panting at this stage.

The last portal was tearing up at the edges. Tsuruya-senpai frowned.

"He's angry, don't gets in his way Kyon..." She warned me, only for a crazy laugh to fill the air.

"So I was right after all!" A boy my age landed on the ground, a white straitjacket on, but one arm was free holding a pistol.

It took me a while to see who he really was, and I held my mouth, trying not to yell his name.

"So, who is it? Haruhi, Nagato, Asahina-san, Koizumi?" He ripped the other arm out of the jacket and pulled out a taser from inside. Then he saw me.

"You..." He saw the others too and realised something, "You're the one... I got your life, all messed up inside my head, I'm going to kill you!"

Raising my arms in front to defend myself, Tsuruya-senpai stamped her foot. "Listen here, boy!" She placed her hands on her hips and pointed, "They've got nothing to do with this. Asakura Ryouko is your target, she was the cause of it all."

"Asakura, huh?" He licked his lips, "I sliced her into seventeen pieces, and she's still alive?" Dropping the taser, he withdrew an identical combat dagger, "I should kill her again, just to be certain this time."

Diving in to the action, he started firing his pistol and lunged straight in to slice at her leg as she was avoiding his shots.

Tsuruya-senpai bit her lip, "The distress beacon chooses those who can help, members of the SOS Brigade, but sometimes, there are universes without one, and his was one of them. The message he got was muddled. Essentially, he lived in an almost identical copy of our universe, where everyone was perfectly normal, but believed he was you when you visited our world, and tried to return to his 'original' universe doing the worst thing possible." She shook her head, "I pulled him out of the asylum after his deeds. Despite everything, he was good at one thing..."

I gulped loudly, "Do I need to ask what?"

The green haired girl sighed, "Yes, he was good at killing and torturing people. I'm sorry you had to see him." Seeing Asakura take a strange stance, she opened a portal and stepped halfway in, "I have to join in. Protect the others, there's nothing left for you to do."

And there I stood, watching as a clinically insane copy of myself battled Asakura as well as the rest of the new SOS Brigade.

If only I could have predicted what was going to happen.

Given hindsight, my only wish was...

**-  
Author's Notes**

About time, perfect chance for new Sliders, only they are characters from my other Haruhi fics (aside from Istuko, which just about every fan knows about), hence this is a somewhat meta-crossover.

Poor Asakura, or is it Kyon who will be sorry?

Next chapter will be crucial, and most likely the last, unless some more new details emerge.

- J


	7. Battle of the Sliders

**The Lost Child**

**Battle of the Sliders**

**One second later**

Asakura roared, and slashed her katana into the barrier that the others had erected, and they shattered.

Tsuruya-senpai thinned her lips, "Yes, most dangerous indeeds."

Punching the ground, her hand instead opened a portal, emerging at the other end to grab on to Asakura's ankle, restricting her movement.

"Stupid girl..." The blue-haired demon lowered the blade to slice up the aforementioned hand, only for to see it drag her ankle into the portal.

"Hehe," Tsuruya-senpai laughed, "I've tightened it, so now you'res chained to that spot.

"Gyahahaha!" The Insane Kyon ran in, his own dagger in one hand and a pistol in the other, firing at Asakura, who deftly dodged the bullets barely, only to fail to completely parry his dagger.

He aimed for her weak spots immediately, and for all the lethal arteries. It chilled me to think that I could have become him had circumstances been different. He nearly disarmed her of the katana, but the sparks that shone off their clash meant that despite being trapped, she was essentially still strong.

"Such smooth skin, it's rare that I get to cut up the same person again, Asakura..." He levelled the gun direct at her face, "Will you let me have the pleasure of doing so?"

"Only if you help me defeat the others, Kyon-kun..." She winked as the katana moved behind her back, "Then you can have all the time in the world with me, as you want."

Insane Kyon had a disturbing look on his face. Was he really considering this? The gun aim wavered as he began to tremble from excitement.

"Watch out! Time Slow!"

Asahina-san (Big) held out a palm facing the two of them, and the arc from the katana, gradually moving towards cutting into Insane Kyon's stomach could be seen clearly. Asakura must have been using all her strength to speed it up, since even then it was fast.

Insane Kyon was also in the slow time field but could not move out in time.

"Not to worry!" Itsuko, at least I think that's her name, was hovering nearby and threw a fireball towards Asakura's sword, and at the same time had an arm ready to drag Insane Kyon away.

The fireball blazed up the metal of the blade, and Itsuko managed to pull out my alter ego by his collar. Once free of the slow time, he was mad, and lashed out at Itsuko.

"Did I say I needed your help? She's my target alone!"

Trying to stab Itsuko, he was met with a data barrier, and he glowered at Entity Nagato.

"Do not attempt anything like that again, or I will permanently seal your movements." She turned to look at Asakura and blinked.

The lamppost next to us formed a large number of spikes, and were flung at my enemy.

Despite all these attacks, Asakura was unperturbed. After angling her foot trapped in the portal, she wedged the sword in there and cut upwards, tearing the portal in two, and also eliciting a cry from Tsuruya-senpai.

I turned back shocked and saw her cradling her leg as the blood gushed out.

"Silly mes," She shook her head, "I forgot I was standing too nears to it."

Entity Nagato watched as Asakura dived to the ground to avoid all the spikes, which were aimed for her upper body, then start charging towards her with the sword embedded in the ground.

The tarmac was being carved in two, and instead of seeing the soil beneath it, I could see a whirlwind of red fire and black water. Entity Nagato also saw this and raised a large dirt barrier reinforced with her own data, into which Asakura could only dent, though it shattered after five seconds.

"So, I cannot break your defences instantly like with Yuki-chan here..." She pointed to our own one who was still healing Koizumi, "However, your powers cannot compare to my own, since even your immense power fell to my own."

"You disrupted the data flow by injecting corruption attack vectors in the tertiary layer, using null data taken from the void."

Asakura just laughed, one without mirth, "Spare me your technobabble," She walked back to the deep cut in the tarmac, and dipped her sword into that vortex of whatever she opened up, "Just a little more power, and I will be able to erase all of you from existence."

"As if I'll allow that!" Asahina-san (Big) yelled, putting her hands on her hips, before she disappeared before my eyes, only to reappear directly above Asakura, landing on her head to force her to the ground.

"Damn you!" Rolling over, Asakura swung the katana, only to hit empty air again, until at the end of the swing, Asahina-san (Big) teleported again, stepping on her sword arm.

"Time Stop!"

"Now's our chance Kyon!" Tsuruya-senpai punched straight ahead of her, ignoring the pain in her leg for now, and a portal opened up next to Asahina-san (Big).

"Allow me!"

Itsuko flew into the portal and sent a fireball down onto the immobile Asakura's hand, and the sight of her skin turning darker made me a little ill.

"I have to lop off those fingers, don't I?"

Insane Kyon brought out a gardening implement, one for pruning branches, and I felt greener all of a sudden.

Entity Nagato glanced at Tsuruya-senpai and cast a barrier on her bleeding leg, to which healing properties began to restore the skin. She also produced barriers on the hand holding the blade to hold in the heat from the fire.

"Too late, little boy!"

Asakura broke out of the time lock early, and gripping the katana tight, yelled out as she lifted up her arm despite the weight of Asahina-san (Big) on it, and the barrier too. Caught by surprise, she fell backwards onto her elbows, the crunching on the ground louder than normal.

Insane Kyon could only watch as the tip of the sword pierced his skin and sliced into his abdomen. Cursing his bad luck, he used the pruning shears to halt the advance of the sword, but it was already too far gone.

Spitting up blood, he took this opportunity to blind Asakura by spraying his red fluid in her face, distracting her enough to pull away, leaving a trail of his bloody saliva behind him.

"That bitch..." Throwing away the shears, he looked up at the black sky, "Nothing left for it now..." From a nearby bush, he removed something I had only seen in movies.

I believe it was called an RPG, or a Rocket Propelled Grenade if you will.

"Target locked." That hungry grin was the last one I saw in his face as he lowered the aim to the prone Asakura, just mere metres away.

"No! Don't do it!" Asahina-san (Big) was crying out, as she was just next to him.

"Shit!" Tsuruya-senpai plunged her hand into a new portal and pulled my elder to safety to us, as I managed to catch her before she fell.

Insane Kyon fired, and milliseconds later, the explosion hit us, the smoke rising along with untold amounts of dirt and whatever else was in the nearby area.

"Where is she?" I was on my guard, I wasn't letting my body relax for a second because somehow I knew she wasn't done for, not yet.

The air hummed with static as a length of white began to glow from within the smoke.

As the dust settled, I saw a sight that had haunted me from a while ago.

Embedded up to the hilt of the sword was Insane Kyon, his weapon lay at his feet. Asakura was holding the sword with her one functioning arm, managing to keep his feet off the ground.

"That was close." She smirked at us, "Too bad for your little friend here."

She swung her blade and he flew off landing in front of me, his school uniform beneath his straitjacket stained deep red. He looked at me, and I realised he was now the same as myself.

"Heh, so I lost in the end, I couldn't change my fate it seems."

Those eyes had lost that sharp edge to them, and seemed like my usual mellow look. I could see a green and yellow barrier form around his chest, presumably trying to heal him.

"It's okay Nagato, that's enough, I'm tired now..."

Entity Nagato blinked, and then I blinked hard at seeing her lips curl downwards, her sadness evident.

"I understand."

The barrier dissipated quickly, and he smiled at me.

"Hey, Kyon, you've had a good life until now." He reached up to grab my collar, and pulled me down towards him, "Be sure to protect everyone. What you have is real, I only had fake memories, I never had anything like remotely as fun as your life." He coughed up more blood, some of it spattered on my cheek, "Kill her, not for me, not for yourself, but for your friends..."

His hand slipped away quietly, much like his life. My doppelgänger was now dead from Asakura's attack, and I began to feel pity for him for the first time.

I looked at his weapons on his person, a normal pistol and dagger, but brought from his old reality. As Tsuruya-senpai said, weapons from my own reality were not effective at all. Only those that were brought from another parallel universe could make any difference.

I looked at my club mates, Nagato healing Koizumi, Asahina-san sleeping peacefully, Yuki watching with anxiety, and then at the new visitors. Entity Nagato was muttering quietly in her golden form, healing Tsuruya-senpai of her injuries. Itsuko was cursing to herself and generating a massive fireball. The former Insane Kyon had a smile on his face, perhaps the only moment of peace he had in his short life.

Shutting his eyelids, I stood up, determined to end it all, holding his pistol and dagger.

I have never once joined in a battle, having no skills other than running away or saying a witty remark or two, I left it up to the others. Yes, I may have been good at managing them all, or giving orders to defeat whatever enemy there was; I never actively fought.

I decided there and then, never again would I just stand back and watch my friends fight for their lives, safe in the knowledge that their strength would overpower any obstacle ahead of them.

From now on, I will fight alongside them.

"Oh my, this is interesting. Are you taking up his mantle, Kyon-kun?"

Asakura's childish mocking had no bearing on the cruelty she was inflicting on us. Not that I let it affect me any more.

Sealing off my emotions was easier than I thought, unlike the way I inadvertently speak my thoughts when I assumed they remained private.

My focus was only on Asakura. My objective was to kill her, completely and utterly.

I glanced at Entity Nagato and nodded. She blinked once and nodded in reply. I looked at Tsuruya-senpai, Itsuko and Asahina-san (Big) too, and they all shared the same nod.

Asakura grinned wider and held that white electrical blade, muttering to herself. One of her arms lay bleeding at her side; that RPG did do some damage to her, but apparently it wasn't fatal or life-threatening. Her body must be battle hardened in some fashion, not that surprising given she had spent ten years sliding from one world to another. Even now though I could see it healing and beginning to move again.

I saw the energy inside that infernal sword grow in size as the tip was dipped into the soil sucking up that strange otherworldly substance.

Getting cut by that this time would mean certain and instant death for anyone.

I checked the pistol, it had a good weight in my hand, it was neither too light, nor too heavy. After getting to grips with the safety catch, I checked there were enough bullets for what I was about to do.

The dagger, well, it's been described enough times by myself on previous occasions, as it was the same make as the one that nearly resided in my gut at one point, and cut my neck only too recently.

There was no time to waste, I had to end this now.

I ran towards her. Asakura laughed loudly.

"A head on attack, how noble!" She too started running towards me, just as I had expected.

I flicked my eyes to Entity Nagato, and she muttered quickly.

Data barriers in front of me materialised, forming a staircase upwards. Racing upwards so I was now six metres above Asakura, I jumped into thin air.

Confused by this turn of events, but at the same time thrilled, Asakura leapt higher than a normal human, getting closer to me.

I glanced at Asahina-san (Big) and Tsuruya-senpai, and she understood.

Holding out both hands, she yelled twice.

Asakura was now encased in a Time Stop field, and she was frozen in mid air, and I was in a Time Slow field.

Working the dagger carefully, using my slowed speed to aim accurately, I plunged it into a white portal, the end of which was centred on her chest. I pushing harder, watching her eyes widen as she could barely move within that area.

Her katana glowed red and vibrated roughly.

Adjusting my body, I made myself lie down in the air, and kicked off the handle of the dagger, ensuring that the hilt was now buried in her ribcage. The portal closed up also, showing that the entire dagger was inside her now.

Falling backwards, I didn't need to let the other member know what to do. Itsuko flew in and caught me before I hit the ground.

"Everyone, attack her now!"

After landing roughly, I let loose with the bullets, Itsuko flung fireball after fireball, Tsuruya-senpai sent punches into portals set at point-blank range from her body and Entity Nagato generated a thousand spikes from other materials around us.

Asahina-san (Big) had no offensive weapons, but did the next best thing.

"Fast Forward!"

The space in front of Asakura was now accelerated to a hundred times their normal speed, so all projectiles had their lethality increased to the same extent as they struck her.

"GYAAAAH!" The Time Stop field around Asakura had broken apart at same moment as all the attacks hit her full on.

Her sword hovered in front of her only after she began to fall two seconds later. It intercepted all the attacks after the third barrage, even absorbing them to some extent. She landed several dozen metres away, still screaming to herself.

I looked at the magazine in my gun, and saw that there was only one bullet left.

The others had come to my side, surprised at how one attack seemed to turn the tide.

"It's not over, we need all our power for one last shot." I knew time was not on our side.

I pulled out the final bullet, the last one from my other self's reality.

"I need all of you to put your ultimate power into this bullet. Only this will kill her. Her blade has been to many dimensions, and it gained power there. That's why I need your own power right now."

Entity Nagato nodded, "Acknowledged, uploading Terminal Nullification Link, thereby converting all matter into separated atoms."

The bullet glowed yellow and green, with a distinct circuit pattern visible as she put her finger on it.

"Whatever you says Kyon!" Tsuruya-senpai's hand turned white and silver, "This portal will transmit a trillion different realities into one atom, thus splitting its very existence into those realities."

Her finger touched the bullet, and it turned golden, small holes appearing in the circuitboard.

"Hmm..." Itsuko thought to herself, "Well, it's not as special as the others, but I can place anything I touch into Closed Space, so why not for each atom? Shouldn't be too hard."

Her hand turned red and as she tapped the bullet, it became a shiny maroon. A miniature bubble enveloped the bullet as it became its own Closed Space.

Asahina-san (Big) closed her eyes, "Using the Ultra Fast Forward, I can ensure that anything will decompose to nothingness within ten seconds. Nothing can survive that."

Holding her ear with her left hand, her right tapped the bullet, and it began to fade in and out of sight as it was no longer in sync with our linear timeframe.

"And for the last person..." I swiped my finger on the blood stain from the other poor Kyon, "To carry on the will of the one who died, the will to protect my reality, and my friends."

I smeared it on the bullet, and as we all held it, it exploded outwards in a rainbow of colours. They all spiralled inwards as if heading into a whirlpool.

All that remained was a floating bullet, completely black, even the shell, and humming with the various powers within it.

Grabbing it, I pushed it into the vacant chamber of the gun and pointed it at the agonised cries of Asakura.

Her figure got up, and the blade turned redder, growing even longer in size and width and depth. It now stood at three metres long and at least thirty centimetres wide. It looked big enough to slice through a horse, or a dragon if unlucky enough to meet one.

"You bastard..." Somehow she could still walk, and she did so, coming closer. The steam from the ruptured ground was seeping into the sword still.

"Does it hurt, Asakura?" I couldn't help smile at seeing her face for the first time since that combined attack.

Her pained expression was greatly satisfying, the blood running down her face, mouth and chest were copious. It seemed that her left eye was gouged out also, as she kept that eyelid permanently shut.

She pulled out my dagger, reaching deep into her own chest to do so, which would have made me squeamish before, but not now.

"Your luck has run out. If I'm not dead by now, I can heal myself again..."

The sword, well, slab of metal, since something that size can't be really called a sword, sent some of its red glow into her body.

Before she completely cured herself, I had to know one thing, but also to partly distract her attention.

"Just one thing, Asakura..."

Her one eye levelled itself with my own pair, intrigued I would try to ask her something at this moment.

"Why go through all this trouble to kill me? Was it because I destroyed your old world? Still holding a grudge against me?"

Pausing in her actions, even the sword stopped providing power to her, she raised her eyebrows and her eye widened in acute surprise.

"Is that what you think I'm doing?"

The dagger finally escaped and fell to the ground, encased in red and black blood. Holding her chest, not in pain, but mirth, she laughed loudly, despite her lungs and heart undoubtedly being pierced by the tip.

"Oh my, I thought you were a clever one, earlier you had a good tactic to hurt me, but I never thought you'd be so stupid..."

I faltered, my weapon arm lowered slightly, "Wait, what are you talking about? I don't understand."

"Why would I want to kill you?" She leered, "You already left that world, it makes no difference to me if you lived or died, though the latter would give me pleasure."

"So...?"

I didn't get what she meant. I wasn't her target? Then, that can only mean...

"No!"

I spun around too late, as Asakura's psychotic laugh echoed around me as she moved too fast to see her, that red blade trailing her movements as she dashing past me and at the same time granting her abnormal levels of speed.

A deep crunch was the next sound, along with a weak whimper.

"Yes, the only person that tied me to this pathetic mortal body was the one who created that world to begin with, by remaining there."

The red tinged hunk of metal now bore a new red flow from the tip, as the person now hanging off it slowly slid further down the length of it, the small arms trying to stop the movement.

"YUKI!"

Her face was turning pale before my eyes, and her eyes were becoming duller.

I ran to Asakura, fury driving my feet forwards, and skidded to place the pistol directly against her forehead.

"Too late, Kyon-kun..."

Then the world blacked out for me as she slammed the metal into my head.

**Author's Notes**

Been playing Higurashi lately, hence the seriously gory portions of this story.

Next chapter should be the last one for this story.

- J


	8. Yuki

**The Lost Child**

**Yuki**

**One second later**

My head exploded, the pain was so intense that I had forgotten what I was fighting for. The only thing I wanted to do was to escape this place and run as far away as I could, even though I had most likely lost the use of my legs from the severe crushing sensation that Asakura dealt to me.

I felt a data barrier form around my leg as I was dragged through a portal away from Asakura and the impaled Yuki.

Somehow, the younger girl was still alive, though she couldn't move much, and did appear to be in a great deal of pain, but not from the blade strangely enough.

"Now, I just need to absorb her own power and then begin to destroy the multiverse." Her eye was now glowing red from the void power she had previously taken in, and was growing in brightness, "Then I will be the God of reality."

My pistol was by her feet, the last vital bullet lay inside it, waiting to be fired by someone.

"What are you talkings about?" Tsuruya-senpai frowned, her silver hand ready to attack through more portals, "What power does Yuki-chan have?"

Asakura said nothing, her lips thinned as she glared at us with hate, "Dead insects don't deserve to know why they die, but they're killed every day, forever with those questions unanswered."

"Why...?"

We all looked at Yuki, her pale eyes getting some semblance of life behind them, as she gazed down at her diminutive figure slowly descending further towards the hilt of the sword, her blood covering the area behind her.

"I have the power to affect their worlds?" She looked at Asakura, "You're saying that if I remain alive, I can destroy their universes?"

Asakura snarled, "Not like it matters any more..." She looked at Nagato, still taking care of Koizumi and the sleeping Asahina-san, "You possess one tiny quark of power taken from Haruhi Suzumiya, back then during December when our world was created. With that power, you could accidentally affect any place, even destroy it."

I coughed in pain, feeling my head and stemming my bleeding, though I knew that Entity Nagato was fixing me up inside.

"So, you killing her is to save the world, right?" Asakura just grinned toothily at my suggestion, "Of course not, you want that power for yourself."

"If something is in front of me, I have to grab it with all my strength!"

Lifting the sword straight up to the sky, Yuki slid right up until the hilt. Swinging it down, Asakura cruelly stuck the tip of the sword into the ground, causing more cracks with hellish red and black steam to curl upwards around the body of Yuki.

Pinned between the fires below and the hilt of the blade, Yuki could only watch as the older Asakura was now getting increasingly more powerful. Her hair began to turn red at the tips, spreading to her roots, as even her own skin became tinged in this colour.

"Soon, I will have taken in all of your life force, and with the last of it, that minuscule, almost insignificant particle of matter."

Everyone knew that it was now impossible to stop her, no one had the individual power to defeat her utterly, and all we could do was look on helplessly.

"Then I am dying, just so you can live a selfish life, enjoying your revenge because of your jealousy?" Yuki asked, tears in her eyes, "I thought you were better than that..."

"Well, little sister..." She replied sarcastically, "The stem of greatness sprouts from the seed of sacrifice."

"I'm sorry..." Yuki closed her eyes, accepting her end, "I couldn't help you, you were my friend, I trusted you with everything..." She spread her arms out wide, laying them flat on the broken earth, "Then I give myself to you..."

"Yes..."

Asakura suddenly turned red and black, her whole body barely distinguishable from the fog of red and black steam that surrounded her. She was non-corporeal now, but still had only one eye, bearing down at Yuki. Presumably Yuki had somehow given her permission to invade the soul even further.

"But, I have one condition."

Her eye turned half-lidded in humour, and her mouth, now twice the size in her fog, spoke simply, "Name it."

"Don't hurt anyone ever again."

The laugh was instantaneous, echoing from all parts of her steaming body.

"I'm sorry, I cannot do that, Yuki."

"No."

Asakura stopped, and her eye was now staring at her in shock, it seemed like Yuki had denied access to her being.

She looked up at Asakura, her right hand was now glowing in a rainbow fashion.

"I am sorry, Ryouko..." Yuki's eyes were now glowing with all the colours in the sky, like her hand, "I sacrifice myself, my power, in order to become great."

The gun flew to her hand, and the rainbow transferred to the entire weapon. From her open mouth came a tiny speck, brilliant in its awe. Holding the gun up, straight at Asakura's forehead, the Suzumiya Quark disappeared into the bullet in the loaded chamber.

Yuki spoke again, "Forgiveness is me giving up my right to hurt you for hurting me."

Seeing this, Asakura tried to move, but found herself transfixed on Yuki's face.

"This sin will remain with me forever. No one will forgive me, but I can release you from your pain and sin."

Yuki cried now, tears were streaming down her face.

"I only wanted us to be friends, Ryouko."

The gun fired, and the park exploded in white light.

Blinded by the light and deafened from the wind and raging sound, we saw nothing until finally everything died down.

The blade was gone as was the gun. Both had been destroyed in the explosion. In the crater was Yuki, still lying in the same position, with Asakura's body of top of her, back in her adult form, with her hair splayed everywhere.

I got up and ran down to them, and saw already that Asakura was fading fast, her body was crumbling away, disintegrating into ash.

Her one remaining hand arm cupped Yuki's face, which Yuki held lightly, and I could have sworn that she whispered something to her, before her smiling face was scattered by the wind.

"Yuki!" I held her hand and gently lifted her up.

She still had the large gaping hole in her chest from the sword.

"I'm dying, Kyon..."

She could barely whisper, as the rest of the group came to us, both the new and old SOS Brigades, Asahina-san being carried by her elder self.

"Please, help her!" I couldn't bear it any more, seeing Yuki die again, it was not something my soul would be able to bear.

"Her injuries are too severe." Entity Nagato spoke, "Reconstruction is impossible, given she was contaminated with the element from Haruhi Suzumiya."

"Time protocols cannot halt the deterioration of her body." Asahina-san (Big) shook her head, "She is outside of time now."

Itsuko sidled up and tried to generate a fireball, only for her hands to fizzle out, "I'm all out of energy, it seems our time is up in this dimension. I don't have healing powers anyway."

Tsuruya-senpai crouched beside me, "I'm sorry Kyon, there's nothing left for me to do. We have no options left."

I looked down at Yuki, her smile still present, as her wheezing breath grew fainter.

"There is one possibility."

I looked up to see Nagato, from my universe.

"I have been trying to classify that last quark of energy in her body, assuming it to be a vital part of her sliding body, and that without it she would no longer function." She blinked, "However, it would appear that when I took control of the abilities of Haruhi Suzumiya, I failed to erase all presence of it within her."

"Wait, so you can cure her?" I was delighted, she could be healed!

Nagato shook her head.

"No, that is impossible, she has been corrupted by the void energy, and a large portion of her life force was drained, meaning she would only live for another day here."

"So, what else is left?"

"I can copy her thought processes down to the tiniest detail. Each memory she had experienced, the ones I created for her, the ones she has created herself, the emotional states in each one, all information stored in her mind."

"So, you can copy her brain? Why would you do that? What use would it do?" I was infuriated now, was that her great plan?

Nagato blinked once, "She would exist within me as a distinct personality, she would be able to communicate with the outside world at will, and with myself naturally." She glanced at the chest wound, "While her body may die, she can share my own, I have enough storage space for her to experience a full life, and freedom to express herself."

I was amazed, "You would do that for her, Nagato?"

"Yes." A succinct answer, "I am her and she is me. Now we will become one again." Nagato looked at me again, "I have also realised within myself that having something akin to a sibling, and not just as an unrelated colleague, is something that I desire."

I was shocked to my bones, never had I imagined that Nagato would ever declare this to be something that she would want. I just assumed that being alone is something which came natural to her.

"Okay, please save her, Nagato."

I smiled inadvertently, the double-meaning of that word immediately jumping out at me.

She walked over to Yuki's figure and crouched.

"I require her permission prior to download."

I realised that I had decided Yuki's life without even taking her opinion into account.

Looking at the twin, I nodded at her, "Did you understand everything we talked about?"

"Y... Yes..." Breathing was becoming harder for her.

"Do you wish to proceed with the transfer? If you have any questions ask now, as the process is irreversible." Nagato was blunt, but understood the urgency given the rapidly dying person in front of us.

"C-Can I really do what I want? Can I cry, smile, get angry? Can I get hurt? Will my soul die one day? "

Nagato replied, "Yes, you will have full access to my human abilities only, no data manipulation. Yes, all emotions are available for expression. Only emotionally, my body can reconstruct itself if there is any physical damage. Only you can choose when to die, I will have no right over it myself; should you choose, you could live indefinitely."

Yuki smiled, "Living forever becomes a curse, like all those books I've read. You have to watch the people you love die one after the other." She looked at me and her cheeks turned pink, before coughing roughly.

"There is little time. Please give me your response."

"Then, please take care of me. I accept." Yuki closed her eyes.

Bringing up SQL code in her hyperspeech, Nagato began to tingle, and soon her hands shimmered. Lowering her face, she opened Yuki's mouth and began to breathe in.

I saw a stream of letters and numbers pour upwards, straight into Nagato's own mouth.

Yuki watched with fascination at her own soul being converted into code and back again inside of Nagato. Even as we watched, Yuki's eyes began to dull and we soon realised that she was more or less just a shell.

Descending sharply, Nagato placed her mouth over Yuki's in a form of reverse CPR. Instead of puffing air in, it seemed that she was sucking it out, as Yuki's chest deflated visibly, even though her lungs were undoubtedly pierced by the giant blade of Asakura.

As she sat up again, the body of Yuki was now fully dormant, her eyes shut peacefully and despite the gaping wound in her chest, seemed otherwise sleeping.

Nagato stroked the hair of Yuki, "I'm sorry, everyone, for making you worry. I feel fine now. Asakura is gone, but I'm still alive inside Nagato."

We could only stare as Yuki's body began to fade away, slower than Asakura.

"This body was sustained primarily by the Suzumiya Quark. Without it, the decompositions has accelerated to maximum speed to counter this strength." Nagato spoke from the same mouth, but still was stroking the hair of Yuki.

"Wait, so who's talking now?" Itsuko scratched her head, before looking at Koizumi and winking.

"Both personalities can control various aspects of this body. Parallel processing allows for multitasking purposes."

"I see, using the extra cores to divert all necessary functions to where they desire." Entity Nagato seemed impressed at her younger self, "I assume you are using the subdivision matrices to collate and extrapolate all neurological response from the Human Nagato Yuki."

"That is correct." Nagato nodded, only to frown, "I don't like to be called just neurological whatever, I am still human."

Entity Nagato smiled, "My apologies. I did not mean to offend."

Tsuruya-senpai looked at her hand and bit her bottom lip, "The portal containment is growing unstable. I need to send you all back to your realities now."

"I'm sure that you will be happy Yuki." Asahina-san (Big) spoke first as her portal opened up before her, "Be sure to express your desires the only way you can."

Stepping backwards into her orange portal, she winked at me, "I'll say hello to Kyon for you."

With that, she was gone, leaving me somewhat sadder.

Itsuko placed her hands on her hips as she sidled up to me, "You remember, you have to treat everyone equally, Yuki, Nagato, Suzumiya, Asahina, Tsuruya and even Koizumi, don't hurt anybody's feelings."

I just arched an eyebrow, "What are you talking about, Koizumi? I hurt his feelings?"

Getting a thump on my head, I could only gasp as she looked miffed, "Yeah, you do. I can't do this to you back home, so I'll just let out my steam this way here."

Sauntering off into her portal, I just felt the bump on his head grow from her hit.

Entity Nagato bowed at us, looking to me first, "Whilst our timelines diverged in the past to create this alternate reality of yours, I feel no less affection to you here." She handed me a a small book from inside her sleeve, "Times have changed, so you may never see them in this reality, but this is your life in my world."

It was a family album of when they went on holiday to Greece, and then Turkey and Egypt given the monuments and sights in the background. I opened the first page to see an older version of me, no less handsome I must admit, with a smiling Nagato, and two smaller people, who I realised were that version's children. I traced over their faces, seeing similarities between both me and Nagato in them.

I could only stare slack-jawed at her as she smiled before stepping into her portal, feeling a tiny bit jealous at my counterpart there.

I looked at Tsuruya-senpai, putting the book away before looking at the body that lay ahead, his smile still plastered on his face.

"Let's return him to his home too. Even though my thoughts corrupted his own, he deserves to be sent back to his rightful place, if only to redeem himself. Without his own power, we would have lost."

The slider nodded and created a portal next to his body. I crouched down and picked him up.

"I'm sorry..." I said to his corpse, "We did it in the end with your help. I'm sorry I ruined your life. At least you're at peace now."

As the portal was flat on the ground, I lowered him into the portal gently, seeing him vanish into his own universe.

Tsuruya-senpai closed the portal afterwards and fell to her knees, "I need to rest. My portal device is rechargings. I needs it for me to gets to our new home."

"I understand..." I looked at Nagato, Koizumi, and Asahina-san, who had just woken up and was looking confused at everything.

"Let's go home." Nagato, I'll need your help to get Tsuruya-senpai back to where she's staying.

Nodding in response, we got up as one and left the park, ignoring the devastation we left behind for the authorities to clear up tomorrow.

**An hour later**

Nagato escorted me and Tsuruya-senpai to the abandoned construction site they were using as their home for now.

I talked to Haruhi, who insisted on calling me John throughout, Asahina-san and Koizumi from the old world, explaining the battle to them. Tsuruya-senpai was lying on a makeshift bed as Nagato used her knowledge of sliders to try to heal her wounds.

"So, Yuki died in the end..." Asahina-san was down, and I wanted to comfort her, only to know that she had a very bad impression of me back in that world.

"She's alive inside Nagato," I said, "So in some form, she can still live."

Haruhi just folded her arms, "Of course, to live on is a choice only humans can make, and it is much better than simply waiting for death, don't your agree John?"

Yes, naturally I do. If I didn't I don't think I would have survived this long, without fighting for one's right to live, you deny your only chance at delaying your own death.

"So, are you ready to live in your new world Tsuruya-senpai has found?"

Haruhi nodded, "As I said before, anything we need to do in order to live, we will do it." She jerked her head in the direction of her old home, "Besides, I doubt I'd want to see my own stupid self here, at least I can tell if there is something odd going on."

I had to chuckle, despite everything, I would miss these people, and so I looked at them all seriously.

"I hope you will be happy, all of you. I know it's partly my fault for bringing you into this, if I had just accepted my new reality back then, none of you would have had to go through this hell."

Koizumi shook his head, "Nonsense, this was far out of your control. You cannot apologise for something that happened due to a massive improbability and unlikely scenario. Who's to say I would not do the same if I were in your position? Home is a very important place for everyone, there is always one true home, where your heart belongs."

Asahina-san agreed, "Yes, and knowing that my whole past there was fake, while it still hurts a little, I'm sure I can adjust to a new life somewhere else."

Haruhi just slapped me on my back and put me in a neck choke, "Yeah, John. Don't get all soppy on me. Thanks to you, we all have another chance to live, so we owe you our lives you know?"

She gave me a predatory grin, "We're going to have fun in this new world, now that we know that there are things that cannot be perfectly explained by science." Her face grew melancholic however and she got closer to me, "But, I will miss you personally, John. Without you there, it wouldn't be the same."

"I know, but -"

She put a finger to my lips, stopping me mid-apology, before bringing her face closer to kiss her own finger, her lips never touching my own.

"Enough, my life is my own. Your life is here, and despite my God-like self being a little dim, I'm sure she'd be sad if you left too." Placing her hand on her hips again, she looked very energetic and positive, "So, go forth John, and change your world for the better!"

I'm not sure I want to do that just yet, a nice long rest is my first port of call, then maybe I can try to make any changes.

As Nagato and I left, Tsuruya-senpai said her portal device would be ready the next morning, so when we went to school, they would have already gone on.

Nagato walked up to Tsuruya-senpai after she said this.

"Whilst you may possess the sliding technology, you do not have any resources to begin proper in the new world. Having decoded basic facets of alternate universes, I can provide you with this."

She handed a small glowing white cube to Tsuruya-senpai, laden with SQL code flitting about inside.

"Wh-what is it?" She asked, genuinely impressed and in awe of its subtle beauty.

"Executable code. To put it in basic human terminology, it would provide you with assets in terms of finances, a house, birth certificates, and whatever else you may require to start a new life. It can only be used once, and it will read your thoughts also so you do not accidentally forget something important."

Tsuruya-senpai sniffed loudly, "Y-Yuki-chan..."

"Well, I can't have my friends become homeless now, can I?" She looked at the cube, "It won't make you millionaires, but you'll have enough to live off until you get some decent jobs after school and maybe even after university ends."

"Thank you Yuki-chan!" Pulling her into a massive hug, I saw tears forming on Tsuruya-senpai's face, "This will help us so much!"

"Don't thank me, thank Nagato too, she created the code."

Watching the two share a private moment, I stepped outside to see the dark sky, knowing that this ordeal in my life would all be over by tomorrow.

All that remained was how to explain Yuki's death to Haruhi...

**Monday**

The battle occurred on Saturday evening, after the cram classes at school. We didn't see Haruhi on Sunday, and now we had to tell her the truth about Yuki.

We, our version of the truth.

"Did she suffer, Yuki?"

Nagato spoke neutrally as she explained to Haruhi, "No, it was in her sleep. I did not wish to intrude in anyone else's weekend, so I have undertaken the necessary actions following her untimely death. I have purchased a plot of land for her ashes to lie in"

Haruhi was extremely sullen, and I knew that Koizumi would have to deal with extra Celestials for a time.

"I... I don't know what to say..." She was trying to speak, but her emotions must have been bubbling under the surface, especially since she only very recently found out that Nagato had a twin, and now that twin was dead.

Nagato nodded, "I understand, I have been speaking with a counsellor to deal with this loss, and I do feel a little better, though it will take time to adjust. You do not need to worry, but if you wish to know more about her, you are welcome to ask me."

Haruhi smiled for once, "I'd like that, another day perhaps..." She looked at all of us, "I'm going to head home for the day, I don't think this is the right mood for a clubroom meeting. We'll see each other tomorrow and see how I feel then."

Leaving the room, she still bore a light frown on her face. Koizumi looked at me and at his phone, "As you suspected, there are numerous Celestials causing a lot of problems in Closed Space. I am needed to help reduce the numbers."

Sure, go ahead, it'll be a way to clear your head too. I paused in my thoughts, didn't Itsuko tell me to be nice, even to Koizumi?

"Okay, take care, they may be more angry today than ever."

Smiling in return he waved as he opened the door, "Thank you. I will meet you again tomorrow if the situation clears up."

Asahina-san was looking at me and Nagato, "Why won't anyone tell me what was happening? Why did Yuki die? How did I miss everything?"

I sighed again, "You fainted, everything happened so fast, we couldn't stop her. That's all I can really say."

Nagato merely nodded as if to agree with my statement.

"Well, if you say so, then it must be true Kyon-kun."

I held back my shame at having to lie, I knew deep down that telling her that an older version of her who was also going out with me fought in the battle would break a lot of those rules regarding the Time Traveller group.

"I need to go home and report to my superiors, they'll probably be angry that I know so little..." She held her ear, "I'll go home first and transport from there. See you tomorrow Kyon-kun, Nagato-san."

Watching her leave, I pulled out the book Entity Nagato gave me and flicked through the photos again. Such beautiful children, and Nagato and I looked so happy together, her smiles were real, and my goofy face held nothing behind them.

"So, Nagato, how is Yuki holding up inside you?"

"I detect no instabilities. We communicate on a daily basis, as she can experience everything that I see and do. She is puzzled at the fact there is no real need for sustenance, nor sleep, nor other bodily functions such as breathing, or the human need to relieve oneself."

Wow, talk about too much information.

"She is able to sleep on her own and wake up thanks to an internal alarm. The breathing as such by my autonomous systems to present myself as human. The same applies to consumption of food and liquids."

"Well, from the sounds of it, she's doing okay now. So she can hear me now and easily speak to me, right?"

Nagato put down the book, closing it with a bookmark and then feeling the pages, immediately reminding me of the shy girl in the Literature room back in December.

"Yes, Nagato has allowed me full reign to do what I want, but I don't want to disturb her life too much. Her role is to observe Haruhi, and I don't want her boss to get angry with me, even though she requested the transfer to be done for research purposes."

"So, she transferred you for them to analyse you?"

Yuki looked at me and blinked, "Well, to be honest, as a soul, now a 'construct of data in nerve cells' as she calls it, I don't really have more information about being a slider."

I smiled, that was just like Nagato, even a small white lie cannot hurt sometimes. To protect Yuki, she said that to make sure she didn't die in vain.

Yuki nodded, "That what I think too, but I can't exactly read her thoughts."

"So, do you want to stay here or go home now, everyone has already left."

"I might as well go too. Nagato only stays until a predetermined time, or if Haruhi goes first, since without her there is nothing to observe."

Makes sense... I picked up my bag and walked to the exit as Yuki got her bag and walked beside me, tripping slightly as I held the door open for her to go first. Catching her she stammered.

"Th-thank you, Kyon-san..."

"Please, call me Kyon, there's no need to be formal."

"Okay, Kyon..."

And then I saw it for the first time.

Nagato, my Nagato, with Yuki inside her, smiled brightly at me.

Holding my sleeve lightly, we walked down the stairs together, soon leaving the school gates.

"So, I've been meaning to ask you, what did Asakura whisper to you before she disappeared?"

Yuki looked off into the distance. The view from the hill was calming, the sun melting into the horizon, as she sighed, exhilarated by the breath coursing through her system, cooling her body down.

"I forgive you."

There was no doubt left in my mind. The right choice was made in the end.

I knew that she would be happy.

**Author's Notes**

Another story completed. No continuations to this one sadly, but if anyone wants to try, you're more than welcome to. Yuki can choose who she wants to be, and Nagato is unlikely to stop her either.

Hope you liked this ending. While not a true Yuki/Kyon romance (though I originally wanted it to be that way), I changed it at the last minute to be that of friendship, and for Yuki to decide for herself on any future she wishes.

Even a last minute redemption from Ryouko, poor girl.

Till the next time.

J


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